


Lullaby

by phoenixmagic1



Category: Josh Groban (Musician)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Music, Romance, mentions of drug use, sexual situatiuons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-09 22:43:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 64,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13491345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixmagic1/pseuds/phoenixmagic1
Summary: This is a work featuring Josh Groban and his friendship/relationship with a woman named Rebecca.This story is a WIP, and un-beta'd.I do not own any of the writes to any songs featured in this story. I am making no money off of this. It is for entertainment purposes only.





	1. Chapter 1

The cold rain splattered down on top of car where a young woman of 29 sat in it crying. It was humid outside, but still the rain was still cold. Her name was Rebecca and she had short naturally curly light blond hair, green eyes, fair skin and she wore contacts. Rebecca wore a pair of dark brown twill pants, a short brown waist length dress and brown Nike tennis shoes. She also wore a silver Citizen watch on her right wrist and on her right hand she also wore a Sterling silver wolf ring that she was given by her parents as a Christmas gift in 1997. Tears rolled down her face as she listened to the song “Lullaby” by one of her favorite artists, Josh Groban. This song had always been one of her favorites, but at this moment, she felt as if Josh was singing it directly to her.

 

Rebecca sighed and wondered if she’d ever get over all of the stuff she was dealing with in her life. She looked outside and watched her dad as he stood in the store which he and his wife owned. She saw that he looked tired, depressed, sad, and hurt, physically, mentally and emotionally. It hurt her deeply that he and everyone in her family was affected by what they were all going through.

 

She cried for her family, herself, for the pain, hurt, sadness, anger and depression they were all going through and feeling as they dealt with the issues of her brother’s ‘recreational’ usage of drugs. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She continued listening to the song as more tears rolled down her skin.

 

The crying young woman was so engrossed in the song, that she didn’t hear the man knocking on her car window. It was only after the third time of knocking and calling her that she finally realized that a man was standing there. Rebecca turned off the music. The man smiled at her as she rolled down her window. She forced a smile up at him and sat there taking him in. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a black belt, black and white Converse tennis shoes; and a black t-shirt. His brown curly hair hung loosely around his face and he was clean shaven and in his contacts. He was holding a navy blue umbrella so neither of them would get wet.

 

“Hi” he spoke to her.

 

“Hello” she replied back, wiping away the remnants of tears.

 

“Is there something you need?” she asked him.

 

He chuckled and smiled at her, his brown eyes filling with concern. “I was just going to ask you the same thing.” he said.

 

“I’m okay, thanks for asking.” she said with a forced smile.

 

The man sighed inwardly. He was silent for a moment or two while he looked at her. Her green eyes held unshed tears, but the man could also see the pain, hurt, anger, sadness and the hurt of betrayal in them.

 

The man holding the umbrella smiled at her once more and she saw that his eyes were filled with concern, happiness, sadness and a bit of loneliness.

 

“I’m sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I’m Josh.” He held out his hand to her.

 

The woman smiled at him and held out her hand to him and shook it. “I know who you are Mr. Groban. I recognize you from your pictures and voice. I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I’ll be okay.” Rebecca said with another forced smile.

 

“Somehow I don’t believe that and please call me Josh.” he replied with a voice filled with concern and doubt. Rebecca turned away from him and blushed from embarrassment.

 

“Look, you seem like you need someone to talk to and I’ve got a lot of free time. So why don’t we go and get some coffee and talk?” he suggested. “Plus the rain is coming down really hard.”

 

Rebecca wasn’t the kind of young woman to trust men easily and Josh could see the doubt and weariness to trust him in her eyes. ‘What else do I have to loose?’ she thought as she sighed.

 

“Let me go tell my dad where I’m going and I’ll be back soon.” she said and proceeded to get out of the car, and go into where her dad was.

 

Josh looked on as he watched the scene play out before him. The woman walked over to her dad, tell him where she was going and that she’d be back soon and to call if he needed anything. Josh watched as she gave her dad a tender hug and kiss on the cheek. Rebecca came walking back out, with her purse in hand.

 

Josh suggested they take his car, a cobalt metallic blue 2006 Porsche Cayman S series and soon they were off. They drove in silence and soon found themselves at a local Starbuck’s. They ordered their drinks and sat in the back corner of the facility. Not many people were out and about today so they virtually had the place to themselves.

 

She was at first apprehensive to talk about her personal life. But Josh was quiet and patient and understood her reluctance. Once Rebecca began talking, she felt more comfortable in Josh’s presence. It was like talking to an old friend, she took comfort in this. They sat there talking for hours, and drinking lots of coffee. Rebecca cried once or twice and Josh was patient, quiet and understanding. Rebecca appreciated his concern and comfort.

 

Rebecca spoke to Josh about the incidents that she and her family had dealt with over the years in dealing with her brother’s drug usage. He could hear the fear in her voice and he did his best to comfort her through his words. Rebecca felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as she sat there talking to Josh. The young woman felt more at peace than she had in a very long time.

 

After venting to Josh about all of the issues she and her family were dealing with, they discussed happier things, such as music, movies, video games, favorite TV shows and other things. Josh found it comforting that even though Rebecca was a Grobanite, she was very calm and collected about meeting with and talking to him. He found that talking to her wasn’t like talking to a fan, but it was more like talking to a friend.

 

While talking with Rebecca, Josh discovered that Rebecca was a private person, but she could also be open and happy when talking with others. The two people greatly enjoyed each others company. Rebecca could tell that Josh could understand her pain. He spoke to her about the hurt, betrayal, sadness, and depression he had gone through when he had broken up with his then girlfriend a few years back. He explained to her that he could relate to not wanting to trust other members of the opposite sex.

 

Josh surprised himself by telling Rebecca this information, he wasn’t the kind of man to openly talk about his personal life, but he felt a kinship with Rebecca and he knew that he could trust her with his information. Rebecca felt that she could also trust Josh with what she had told him. It wasn’t every day that she spilled her life to people in a coffee shop.

 

The time passed quickly and soon it was dark outside. Rebecca’s phone rang and she answered it, smiling. It was her dad wondering where she was and she told him she was out having coffee and talking with Josh Groban. Her dad didn’t believe her. She passed the phone to Josh who said hello to Rebecca’s dad. After passing the phone back to Rebecca, her dad asked her if she knew when she’d be back. She said she wasn’t sure and she’d call him back ASAP and let him know. Telling him she loved him, she hung up the phone.

 

Rebecca smiled at Josh. She asked him, what he wanted to do, if they wanted to continue this conversation tonight or at a later date. Josh smiled at her and noticed the late hour and knowing that he had nothing to do later on that night, he suggested that they go out to dinner at a local restaurant that he knew of. Rebecca stammered and tried to dissuade him from taking her out, claimed she wasn’t dressed at all for the occasion. Josh scoffed at her remark and said that she was dressed perfectly and that she looked pretty. She blushed at his comment. It wasn’t often that she was complimented by a man about how she was dressed or how she looked.

 

“Thank you” she said softly.

 

Rebecca called her dad and said that she’d be staying out later with Josh, they’d be going out to dinner and she would be home later. Her dad was a bit skeptical of this, but he trusted his daughter. Her dad knew his daughter had good judgment. Rebecca told her dad that she’d be fine and would call him if anything came up. Saying ‘I love you’ to him, Rebecca hung up the phone and looked at Josh.

 

“Are you ready to go?” he asked her. With a nod of her head, they gathered their things, threw out their now cold and stale coffee and headed off to dinner.

 

What the night would bring between the two individuals would soon come to pass.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Note: This is website for The Melting Pot restaurant, it’s amazing! http://www.meltingpot.com/default.aspx 

They left Starbuck’s and got in Josh’s car. Rebecca told Josh that she knew of a great place in Columbia, Maryland which was about 30 minutes from where they currently were located. The restaurant was called The Melting Pot. Josh, who had never heard of this place, asked what it was like. As they drove, Rebecca described the restaurant, a restaurant that she had been to many times in the past. Rebecca explained that first you select your cheese fondue, then you pick your salad, then you select your entrée and cooking style and lastly you pick your chocolate fondue. All of this sounded wonderful to Josh and he gladly agreed to try it out. 

They got to the restaurant and saw that it wasn’t very late, around 7:30 p.m. The restaurant closed at 11:00p.m. so they had plenty of time to sit and talk some more. They choose a table in the back where they wouldn’t be disturbed from the other customers and they sat down and ordered their drinks. Knowing that they would be there for a while, they ordered a bottle of Chianti Classico Reserva from Tuscany, Italy. Josh really enjoyed the wine and complimented her on picking a very good tasting wine. They sat in silence for a while, each of them trying to decide what to order. They decided to go in together and get the Entrées for two, which included cheese fondue, a salad, and a choice of Surf and Turf, Pacific Rim or the Signature Selection. 

After much discussion, they settled on the Pacific Rim entrée which included teriyaki-marinated sirloin, white shrimp, marinated pork tenderloin, breast of duck and chicken and pot stickers. For their cheese fondue they ordered the Wisconsin Trio Cheese Fondue. For her salad, Rebecca ordered California salad and Josh ordered a Spinach Mushroom salad. Lastly, they ordered the Pure Chocolate Fondue for desert.

Before their food came out, they made a toast to friendship, both of which they were equally happy with. The hours passed by and through out the dinner they found themselves laughing about silly topics, such as Josh’s crazy antics up on stage, serious topics like where they’d like to be in 5 years, where they would like to travel to etc. They got on the topic of traveling and Josh talked about all of the different places he had been to over the years, from Africa to Australia and different places with the U.S. Rebecca was enthralled by his tales of fun, hard work and sightseeing. 

Josh asked Rebecca if there was one place she could travel to and live where it would be. Without thinking, Vanessa replied that she’d live in Italy. Rebecca then spoke at length about her holiday in Italy and everything she experienced. Josh could see the excitement and joy build up in her eyes as she spoke. It made him smile. They discussed their families, pets, hobbies, favorite place they went to on holiday as a child, etc. 

Rebecca asked Josh if he was enjoying himself and he smiled and said yes. Josh then asked her if she was having a good time and she replied in kind. 

Rebecca then spoke, “Maybe when I come out to L.A. we could go out to one of The Melting Pots out there. They’re located all over from San Diego, to Sacramento to San Jose.” 

Rebecca suddenly became quiet and blushed from embarrassment. She was silent for many moments.

“What’s wrong Rebecca?” he asked with concern in his voice. 

“I don’t know…maybe it’s because of the wine, or the company or that I haven’t been out with a guy friend like you in so many years that I’ve forgotten how to act and think coherently, but that came out all wrong. I didn’t mean to invite myself out to L.A. After all I know you’re busy with touring and such. You don’t want to hang out with someone like me…” she trailed off and was silent for many minutes, hanging her head. 

“Rebecca, look at me.” Josh said. The woman didn’t respond and continued to avert her eyes, ashamed and embarrassed of what she had said and done. 

“Look at me.” he repeated, this time his voice full of concern and hurt. She raised her head towards him and looked into his big brown eyes. 

“First off” he smiled. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I’ve done the same thing too. This is the first time in a few years that I’ve been out to dinner with a young woman like yourself, who wasn’t trying to be fake, you know? You’re the first woman in a long time that is real and open about who they are. You’re real, that’s what I like about you…as a friend.” he added.

Rebecca smiled at Josh and spoke, “Josh, thank you for your honesty. I’ve never had a man in my life, other than my dad and other relatives who are really and truly honest with me about how they feel and who they are. So thank you. It feels good to have that in a friend.” 

“Enough of this depressing talk, onto lighter topics! Who’s your favorite actor and what’s your favorite movie? Favorite movie genre, and TV show, and favorite guilty pleasure?” Josh asked in rapid fire succession.

“My favorite movie is Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2. My favorite actor is Johnny Depp. My favorite movie genre is anywhere from romantic comedies to action/adventure. My favorite TV currently is Life and you can’t go wrong with The Simpsons. My guilty pleasure is chocolate.” Josh also gave his answers. 

They talked for quite some time about everything under the sun, avoiding certain topics of course. As dinner went on, they continued to feel more and more comfortable with each other’ presence. Sipping the last of their wine, Rebecca looked at her watch and saw that it was getting late; it was a little after 10:00p.m. Had they really been there since 7:30? Time seemed to fly by! They both realized that together they had drunken a bottle of wine. The wine they had was very strong, and neither of them wanted to take a chance on driving. 

Josh suggested that they call a cab and Rebecca agreed. When it was time to pay for the meal, Josh insisted he pay for it, in spite of Rebecca’s protests. Josh told her that next time it was her turn to pay. He smiled at her as he said this. She told Josh that they could come back in the morning to get his car. Realizing that it was getting late and Rebecca had a bit of a distance to go to get home, and combine in that they had been drinking, Josh suggested that they head over to where he was staying in the Sheraton Hotel and Resort not too far away from the restaurant. 

Rebecca was quiet for a few moments, pondering in her mind as to what she should do verses what she wanted to do. Without saying a word to Josh, she opened her phone and called home, telling her parents she was going to be spending the night in a hotel with Josh. Luckily her dad answered the phone and agreed to let her do this that was after she explained the situation. Her mom would’ve freaked out and said no. She hung up the phone and smiled at Josh with a look of mischievous in her eyes.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked. “I know where we’re going”. She continued on.

They paid for the dinner and headed on out of The Melting Pot. Rebecca hailed a cab and soon they were on their way to the Sheraton. They soon arrived at their destination and made it up to Josh’s room. When they got inside, they were laughing and goofing off because Josh was pulling funny faces and making her laugh very hard. Her laughter immediately stopped when she saw that there was only one bed. 

Josh sensed the apprehension in her body language and turned to leave the room saying, “Look, I can go and ask them to…” he was cut off by her answer. “Josh, this is fine, I’m okay with this. Really I am.” she said. 

Once they got over the nervousness of the situation, they were soon back to talking and laughing again. They even found one of Josh’s favorite movies on TV, Braveheart. He smiled like a kid in a candy store. After the movie was over, they were both very tired from the long day they had had. Rebecca panicked that she didn’t have any clothes to wear to bed. Josh politely handed her a pair of sweat pants and an old t-shirt. She thanked him profusely. Sensing her apprehension once more, Josh told her that she could keep his clothes until she got some of her own tomorrow. 

It was almost 1:00a.m. when they finally got into bed. They were both respectful of the other person’s personal space. They both fell asleep fast and both slept better than they had in years. Was it because of the comfortable bed, exhaustion or the company they kept with each other? Only time would tell…   
(TBC)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next morning, Rebecca opened her eyes and found Josh’s warm around her waist, he was still sleeping. She’d never thought she’d ever be in a bed with Josh Groban with his arm around her! She did her best not to let her mind wander, but failed miserably. She could hear Josh breathing slowly and deeply as he continued to sleep. She closed her eyes and let his gentle breathing lull her back to sleep.

A while later, Rebecca woke up first and moved around to face Josh who was still dead asleep and she smiled as she heard him snore softly. Rebecca lay on the bed relishing in this moment, hoping that she’d have many more of them as Josh slept next to her. Rebecca turned and glanced at the clock and saw that it was 9:30a.m. She quietly slipped out of his embrace and made her way to the phone where she dialed the number down at the main desk in the lobby and asked if they could bring her an extra tooth brush, toothpaste, shampoo, and conditioner. Rebecca hung up and minutes later, she had the supplies she needed. 

Rebecca grabbed the extra towel and her supplies; she stripped off her clothes and quickly showered. 15 minutes later, she felt cleaner and a bit more awake. She dried off, dressed back in the clothes she wore the night before. She brushed her teeth and fixed her hair as best she could. She opened the door to still find Josh asleep. Rebecca looked at the clock and saw what time it was and with nothing better to do sat down in a nearby chair and watched Josh sleep. 

Many minutes later, Josh awoke and she smiled at him, but said nothing. She wasn’t a morning person and she had a feeling he wasn’t either. Slowly he got up out of bed, stretched and looked at the clock and saw that it was around 10:30 or so. Josh loved sleeping in! It wasn’t often that he got to do that when he wasn’t touring so he was more than happy to get all the sleep he could. Josh slowly made his way into the bathroom, quickly showered, dressed, and brushed his teeth and hair. Josh dressed in a pair of clean blue jeans, a royal blue t-shirt and his Converse tennis shoes and glasses. 

Rebecca gathered her used clothes and other items and put them together, Josh grabbed his wallet, phone and car keys. Then they left the room and went downstairs for a continental breakfast. Coffee and pancakes for Josh and milk and cereal for Rebecca. After breakfast, they hailed a cab and were soon at the restaurant. The cabbie was paid and soon they were back at Josh’s car. 

Rebecca broke the silence, “Thanks for all of this Josh. I really appreciate it.” she said with a smile. 

Josh smiled back at her as he started up the car, “Not a problem. It was my pleasure. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do today?” he asked her.   
A bit unsure of what she wanted to do, she replied. “Could you drop me off at home and then maybe if you’re not busy on later today, we could hang out if you want?” she asked him.

“Sounds good to me.” he replied with a smile. Rebecca’s heart almost leapt out of her chest at the idea of spending more time with Josh. 

They drove and Josh turned on the radio to a heavy metal station and sang along. Rebecca smiled and laughed as she watched him sing along with the songs. No one would ever believe that she was in the car with Josh Groban as he sang aloud to heavy metal songs. Her family and friends would be so jealous! 

They soon arrived back at Rebecca’s house and luckily for her, neither of her parents were home, but they had been smart enough to leave the front door unlocked for her. Josh hugged Rebecca and she almost melted in his embrace. She gathered her things and told Josh goodbye. 

Just as Josh was ready to leave, Rebecca yelled. “Wait Josh!” Josh poked his head out the car. 

“Yes?” he asked. 

“Umm…could I have your phone number so I can call you later?” she asked while blushing. 

“Sure thing.” he said as he grabbed a random piece of paper and jotted down his cell phone number and handed it to her.

“I look forward to talking with you later on.” he said with a smile. With that he drove away and the young woman found herself standing in her drive way with a silly smile on her face.

Quickly coming to her senses, Rebecca hurried back into the house. She quickly undressed and dressed into sweat pants and a t-shirt for the time being and then she gathered up all her dirty clothes and quickly went down and washed them. While this was going on, she went up stairs and showered. A long while later, she was finally finished in the shower and she went into her room and changed into what she was going to be wearing that day. 

She chose a pair of low riding blue jeans, a black belt, blue and white tennis shoes, white socks, and a white and green spaghetti strapped hip length frilly dress. Rebecca loved wearing this dress; she had gotten it at Kohl’s when she went shopping with her sister a while ago. Rebecca put on her make up, fixed her hair and then put in her contacts; perfume and body spray and gathered her purse which held her cell phone, some money, car/house keys and other things. Then she rang Josh and waited nervously for him to show up.

10 minutes or so later, Josh showed up at her door. Like the gentleman he was, he rang the doorbell. Rebecca opened the door and stared at him. He cleaned up good, even if it was for a day out doing nothing! He had changed into a pair of dark blue loose fitting jeans, a black belt, his Cons, glasses and a black t-shirt. He smiled at Rebecca and she opened the door and let him come in, where she offered him a bottle of water. She grabbed her purse and soon they were off. 

On the way, they discussed places they wanted to go to and Rebecca suggested they head down to the Inner Harbor, Josh agreed and she gave him directions to get down there. They parked the car and walked around a bit, trying to decide what they wanted to do. Josh spotted the sign for the National Aquarium and like the little kid he was, bugged Rebecca to let them spend the day inside. He told her that this was a place he’d always wanted to visit. Rebecca just laughed at Josh’s child like antics and paid for two tickets in spite of Josh’s insistence to pay for the tickets. Rebecca said that she was paying him back for the dinner he’d paid for the night before. He happily obliged her. 

A/N: Go here to get more info: http://www.aqua.org/ 

They spent many hours in the National Aquarium in these new exhibits: Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extreme, the 4-D Immersion Theater, and Play! The Dolphin Show, and Frogs! A Chorus of Colors and all of the other exhibits that the National Aquarium had to offer such as the: Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Invertebrates, Mammals, and Reptiles. 

In the National Aquarium, they also got to see the rainforest with a variety of birds and other animals, the feeding of sharks, rays and turtles, the hundreds of different kinds of sharks that swim and live within the National Aquarium. They also saw the different wet lands of Maryland, from the marshes to the Chesapeake Bay. It was an afternoon neither one of them would forget! Luckily for, they each had cameras on their phones and took lots of memorable pictures.

It was around dinner time or so when they finally got out of the National Aquarium. Josh was saying that he was hungry and wanted food so when Rebecca suggested they head over to the Hard Rock Café for some video games and good food, Josh jumped at the chance. He ran ahead of her to get in line and she just grinned at him and ran up to meet him in line. It was a long line, but they soon got in. It was noisy, smoky and crowded, but they soon found a table for themselves. 

Josh was glad of the large crowd; he was happy to fit in and not have to worry about fans walking up to him and asking him for an autograph. Not that he minded giving autographs or saying hello to or taking pictures with fans. He would be forever grateful to them for their support and love, but it was times like these that he could go out and just be a face in the crowd that he enjoyed the most. 

They ordered their drinks, Rebecca got an iced tea and Josh got water. They ordered Hard Rock Nachos for a starter. They laughed and talked about their visit to the National Aquarium, what they liked the best etc. For dinner, Rebecca got the Herb Grilled Chicken Breast which was a boneless, marinated, half-pound chicken breast marinated with fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil. It was served with mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh vegetables. Josh got the New York Strip Steak which was a USDA 12 oz. cut strip steak grilled, topped with Merlot-garlic butter and served with White Cheddar mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh vegetables. For desert, they each got chocolate milkshakes in 32 oz. Hurricane souvenir glasses. 

Throughout the dinner they laughed and talked more. Josh brought up the topic of music and they dove right in, each of them telling the other about their favorite genre, band or song. Rebecca told Josh that she had been lucky enough to go with her mom to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio last summer on holiday. She then told him about the great exhibits from the many displayed guitars to the room dedicated to The Doors. She suggested that he check it out sometime and he quickly agreed. She also told him about how last summer on holiday, she went with her mom in the same week to Sandusky, Ohio to Cedar Point Amusement Park and how much fun they had had on the 17 or so roller coasters. 

Josh told her that he loved roller coasters, but didn’t get to go to many amusement parks now that he was busy with touring. Rebecca promised him that they go to both those places, Cedar Point and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the time that he had left here on holiday. Josh seemed a bit reluctant of the idea, knowing that she probably had more important things to do than spend a bunch of time with him. Rebecca reassured him that there was nothing more she’d rather do than spend time with him. She sensed his hesitation and leaned over and gave him a hug. 

They talked more about their child hood, their favorite places they went on holiday to, favorite pet etc. They each had a great time. They finally left the restaurant around 9:00p.m. Sensing that neither one of them wanted the night to end so soon, Josh suggested they head out to a movie. Rebecca agreed and suggested a safer location than Baltimore to catch a movie. They headed back towards Rebecca’s house and she gave him directions to a local movie theater. They went and saw the movie The Dark Knight.

A long while later, they came out of the movie tired from the fun day they had had, but happily enjoying each others company. The ride back to Rebecca’s house was quiet as they were both lost in thought and both were quite tired from the long day. 15 minutes later, Josh pulled into Rebecca’s driveway and cut the engine. He looked at her and smiled. 

Then he spoke, “Rebecca, I had a really great time today and last night too. I haven’t had this much on holiday in a long time. I’m very glad to have met you. In spite of the really late hour, I don’t want this night to end, ever” He smiled at her. 

A/N: I’m playing this song while writing this, Josh is such the inspiration! I love it! 

Rebecca smiled at him and laughed. “What is it?” he asked. “I just had the thought of you singing Awake, that song for some reason fits this situation perfectly, don’t you think?” she asked with a grin.

“I agree.” he said. 

Then Josh did something he never ever did. He sang Awake to her. Rebecca had never heard a more beautiful song! She teared up at the sound of his voice, the emotion he put forth in singing the song was beautiful and by the end of the song, tears of happiness were running down her face. He smiled at her and used his thumb to wipe away the tears on her face. She blushed at this action and smiled at him once more. He smiled at her again and then he stifled a yawn which he apologized for and they both laughed. 

Then he leaned over and gave her a hug good night and whisper in her ear, “Want to hang out tomorrow?” She whispered “yes” back and they both smiled. Then he gave her a kiss on the cheek and she got out and waved as he drove away. That night she slept peacefully for the second night in a row. Josh drove back to his apartment in a happy daze and went to bed with a smile on his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he had had that much fun in the company of a young woman as nice and fun as Rebecca.


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next few weeks, Josh met Rebecca’s parents and family. They all seemed to enjoy Josh’s company and knew that Rebecca had made a good choice in a friend like Josh. They could tell that Josh had nothing but good intentions towards Rebecca in being her friend. Josh found Rebecca’s family to be warm and welcoming. He told them about whom he was and what he did and they were okay with that and that made Josh happy. 

Over the next few weeks, Rebecca and Josh hung out even more. They took day trips to a variety of places in Maryland, from a Baltimore Orioles baseball game, the Babe Ruth Museum, to a short three day holiday to Ocean City, Maryland. They walked on the boardwalk, built castles in the sand, and ate funnel cake from the Boardwalk, something which Josh quickly became addicted to. They even went to the small amusement park located right near the Boardwalk. At night they ate pizza or take out and took walks on the beach, talking and laughing. Neither of them could remember when they had had a better time being so carefree. 

Keeping her promise to Josh, Rebecca drove them out to Cleveland, Ohio to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They enjoyed seeing all of the different displays. It was an experience they both really enjoyed. While in Cleveland, they took in other sights such as the House of Blues and other local entertainment places. They spent their nights in a local hotel. 

The next morning, they got up very early which both of them hated, showered, ate breakfast, dressed, gathered their belongings, checked out the hotel and were soon out the door and on their way to Cedar Point. In the car, Rebecca told Josh they had two days at Cedar Point, Josh was elated and couldn’t wait to get there! Josh wore a pair of dark blue loose fitting jeans with a grey t-shirt, his Cons, a black belt and a black baseball hat. Rebecca wore a pair of blue jeans, a turquoise colored t-shirt with a Jimmy Buffett design on the back, a black belt and a pair of white and blue New Balance tennis shoes. 

Josh, who normally wasn’t a morning person, smiled a big smile and almost jumped out of the car and ran towards the entrance as they pulled into the parking lot. Rebecca laughed at him and said, “Hold up there, you goofball, I still have to pay for the tickets.” she said with a grin. 

Josh just grinned at her and stuck out his tongue and told her to hurry up. Soon they had bought their two day passes and Rebecca laughed at the expression on Josh’s face as he stood there in the entrance way taking it all in. It wasn’t until Josh felt Rebecca tap him on the shoulder to indicate that someone was talking to him that he snapped out his daze. 

Josh turned and looked at Rebecca who in turn asked him if he wanted his picture taken as a gift. He said yes and smiled. He stood there with his arm draped over Rebecca’s shoulder with a big smile on his face. Rebecca too had a big smile on her face. The picture was taken and they were told they could pick it up at the end of the day. They thanked the attendant who snapped their picture, grabbed a fold out map of the park and went on their way.

Over the next two days, Josh and Rebecca went on every single roller coaster. Josh had never had so much fun on roller coasters before, if he thought he loved them before this, he was now addicted! After most of the rides, they would look at their pictures taken on the automated cameras and would laugh at each others expressions. They also went on many thrill rides. 

By the end of the second day, they were exhausted but elated to have been on this holiday together. The last night of their trip, they went to a local restaurant. In spite of the fun times, there was some awkward silence in their conversations as they both knew that Josh had to leave to go back on tour a few days after they got back. Neither of them wanted to talk about the elephant in the room. 

Very early the next morning, they checked out of where they were, dressed, grabbed breakfast on the road and made their way back to Maryland. Josh slept for most of the trip and Rebecca would often glance over him as he slept. He had a smile on his face as he slept and he seemed happier and more relaxed now than when they first met. 

‘This holiday really seemed to help him. He needed to get away from it all. I really enjoyed my time with him. Gosh I’m going to miss him’ Rebecca thought to herself as she continued to drive. 

Many hours later, Josh felt someone shaking him awake. “Wake up Josh, we’re back home.” she said. ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I said, home! Shoot! I hope he didn’t notice my slip up!’ she thought to herself. “Err, I mean, we’re at my home.” 

Josh grumbled and opened his eyes and smiled. His brown eyes filled with sleep and he smiled at Rebecca. Slowly waking up, he shook his head to get the cobwebs in his brain, grabbed his stuff and made his way inside Rebecca’s house. Rebecca also brought her stuff in. Luckily for them both, her parents were visiting a friend in FL for a few days. 

Having slept so much on the car ride home, Josh was now wide awake. He asked Rebecca if he could use her washer and dryer to do his wash, and she happily obliged him. While Josh was down in the basement, Rebecca quickly hopped in the shower and was soon out. She dressed and came downstairs and found Josh sitting on the couch watching TV. He smiled at her as she sat down on the couch. They idly chatted while they watched TV. It was comfortable for them both. They watched TV for quite a while. For dinner, they ordered Chinese food and ate ice cream and ordered movies from Verizon Fios and laughed and talked all night long eventually falling asleep on the couch. 

 

The night before Josh left, he suggested they go out to dinner; it was his treat tonight in spite of Rebecca’s arguments. Josh told her to be ready to leave at 6:00p.m. Rebecca showered and put on a pretty pink dress that had pink flowers on it. She put on make up, shoes, her contacts, body lotion, body spray and perfume. She gathered her purse and walked out of her room. She knocked on the guest bedroom door and told him that she would be downstairs. 

Minutes later, he came downstairs dressed in a pair of tight fitting stone washed dark blue jeans, a navy blue button down dress shirt and brown dress shoes and black belt. His hair was in place thanks to gel and he wore the smallest hint of cologne. He smiled a big smile as he looked at her and she blushed under his gaze.

They made their way out of the house and drove to the restaurant. It was The Olive Garden, one of her favorite restaurants. Dinner was a quiet affair, with both of them avoiding the issue of Josh leaving the next day. They discussed their past relationships. Rebecca told Josh about her first ex-boyfriend Seth whom she dated for two years. She didn’t go into details about their relationship, but in the end, she told Josh that she chalked up their breakup to miscommunication, betrayal and a lack of trust. Josh told her that he could relate her break up and he proceeded to tell her about his ex-girlfriend. Things were quiet as they were lost in their own thoughts. 

The conversation was turning from somber to depressing and Josh thought of something to brighten up the conversation. He took a sip of his drink and leaned over and touched her hand. She looked at him. 

“Rebecca, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with you these past few weeks. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun. I consider you my friend and I hope that you consider me yours. I’ve been really glad to have gotten to know you and was wondering if you’d like to continue to get to know me more while on tour in Australia?”

Rebecca was silent for a moment or two and then she spoke. “You don’t beat around the bush do you, Josh?” she said with a smile. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you too. I don’t have many friends whom I’m close with, but you’re quickly becoming one of them.” She took a breath and continued, “To answer your question, yes I’d love to get to know you more while on tour in Australia.” 

Josh smiled a big smile and his eyes were filled with warmth and happiness. She smiled back at him. Now that the awkward conversation was over with, they chatted about friendlier topics. They left the restaurant happier when they had arrived and drove back to Rebecca’s house. Foregoing any TV watching, and because both of them were tired from the emotionally draining day, they soon fell asleep in their separate rooms. The morning would bring new adventures for them both.   
(TBC)


	5. Chapter 5

Early the next morning, Friday to be exact, they got up, showered, dressed and packed up their luggage with Rebecca leaving a note for her parents with her contact information. They got to the airport via cab around 10:00a.m. It was around that time that Rebecca got a phone call it was a nurse from the hospital near her home, her dad had had a heart attack. 

To say the least Rebecca was shocked, but she thanked the nurse and hung up the phone. Josh could tell by the look on her face that something was wrong, when he asked what was wrong, she told him. He immediately told the cab to turn around and go back. Rebecca protested Josh’s decision, saying that it was important for him to go on tour. Josh told her that his tour could wait and this was more important. Rebecca sighed, she was annoyed with his decision of cancelling some of his immediate tour dates, but then again she was grateful to have him here. Josh then took out his phone and called his manager, told him of the situation which his manager understood and told his manager to cancel some of his upcoming tour dates. 

They met her mom at the hospital around 11:00a.m. who had flown from Florida to Maryland to be at the hospital with them. They stayed around the hospital for several hours, making phone calls and waiting. It was around 7:00pm that night that Rebecca and Josh returned to Rebecca’s house. Rebecca’s mom came home around 8:30pm, ate dinner and then went to bed. They, however, sat around watching TV and drinking wine and just enjoying each others company.

Time passed and Rebecca could feel herself getting sleepy, she said goodnight to Josh and headed upstairs and got ready for bed. Josh came up sometime later and saw that the light was still on and he knocked on the door, opened it and saw her sitting on her bed in pajamas with a blank look on her face. No words needed to be said as Josh walked over, sat down and gave her a hug. 

After she was done crying, Rebecca looked at Josh and asked, “Josh, do you think you could please hold me?” 

He smiled and said, “I’d be happy too.” as he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. He told he’d be right back and he came back minutes later wearing pajamas. Josh turned off the lights and got into bed. Without a word, Josh held Rebecca and sang Lullaby as she fell asleep in his arms. 

The next few days were a whirlwind of emotions. Josh was there to comfort Rebecca and help out her mom and older sister and brother when they needed someone to talk to as they visited her dad in the hospital. Josh noticed that Rebecca didn’t express her emotions a lot during this ordeal and this bothered him somewhat. The singer knew the importance of opening up and letting out your emotions. He tried a few times to get her to open up to him, but to no avail. Josh was saddened and frustrated that he couldn’t make his friend talk. Rebecca sensed his unease but wasn’t sure how to approach the subject. 

One night before Rebecca’s dad came home, Rebecca and her mom were sitting on the couch talking to her mom’s best friend in Florida. They talked and emotions were brought out which in the end, made Rebecca feel better. After the talk, Rebecca went upstairs, Josh was in his room writing and he stopped her in the hallway. The brown eyed man asked her to come in and sit down, which she did and closed the door. He could see the relief in her eyes as well as worry and sadness from the situation. The man hugged her and then he told her how he felt, the frustration and sadness. She apologized for not opening up to him about how she felt. She said that she was so used to holding her emotions inside and that this situation with her dad didn’t really shock her all that much since he had had a heart attack 3 years ago. He smiled at her and gave her a hug. Josh then asked her if there was anything else she needed or wanted to talk about, ever, that he could come to her. She promised him she would and she made him promise the same thing. Both adults felt better after this talk and after it was over, they talked about more fun topics such as what Josh was writing, the upcoming tour etc. 

Her dad came home that Monday. Rebecca, her sister, mom, and brother were all happy to have him home and they had a belated birthday dinner for him. Josh was kind enough to sing the Happy Birthday song to him. Rebecca and Josh had talked over the past few days before her dad came home about what to do about Josh’s tour in Australia. Rebecca told her family that night that she had decided to go on tour with Josh and they’d be leaving the next night. So it was a bittersweet birthday. Her family understood her reasoning for going – she knew that her dad would be well taken care of by her family and they all promised to keep in touch. It was hard for her to leave her family, but she knew that if she didn’t do this now, she’d regret it for the rest of her life. That wasn’t to say she didn’t care about her family, heck she’d do anything for them and they all knew that. 

The next night, Josh and Rebecca found themselves on a red eye to Australia. Several hours later, they arrived in Australia, both exhausted from the long flight and knowing that jet lag would soon kick in. They gathered their luggage and made their way to the hotel. After settling into their rooms, of which Rebecca and Josh had separate rooms, Rebecca met the band and crew. Too tired to go out, everyone opted for room service and spent a quiet night in. That is if you consider, playing hours and hours of Guitar Hero and other video games and laughing and talking with the band and crew a quiet night in.

Josh’s tour didn’t start until a few days later, so everyone had a few days of sightseeing to do in Melbourne. Different members of Josh’s band and crew headed off to explore on their own, now that they had downtime. Over the next few days, Josh and Rebecca headed to Flinders St. Station, a popular and very busy railway station. From the railway station, they headed over to St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Melbourne Museum, Crown Casino where Rebecca and Josh had too much fun playing the slot machines and roulette. They met up with everyone else at the end of each night and went out to dinner, laughing and talking about all of the fun times they had had while sightseeing. 

On the last day of freedom, as they jokingly referred to it, Josh and Rebecca used a trusted local tour company and took the day long Australian Sports Lovers Tour. What man didn’t love sports? They both had a wonderful time, learning about all of the different types of sports in Australia. After eating an early dinner and going to bed early, they both slept very well in anticipation of the show the following night. 

The next morning, everyone was up at 8:00am, but no one was awake. Not many people in Josh’s band and crew were morning people and that included the man himself and Rebecca. After showering, dressing and breakfast and lots of coffee, everyone was a bit more awake and active. They spent the morning and afternoon rehearsing songs, making last minute changes to the set list and various other tour related decisions. Rebecca sat back and took it all in. It was an incredible experience for her to watch and witness! 

Hours passed and soon it was time for the M&G’s and after that the show would begin! Rebecca could hardly contain herself, she was so excited! The band and crew did their thing to get ready for the concert as did Josh, by showering and dressing in a pair of navy blue jeans, black boots, and a royal blue dress shirt. Rebecca had been given an all access pass which hung around her neck on her brown tank top, dark blue jeans and brown tennis shoes. The M&G lasted about an hour and soon Josh said goodbye to the screaming Grobanites and told them he’d seem them onstage. 

Earlier in the day, between rehearsals, Josh asked Rebecca where she’d like to be during the concert, in the front row or in the wings. Rebecca chose to front row. She couldn’t wait to experience the concert like a regular fan.

Minutes after the M&G ended Josh came on stage to the sound of thousands of fans screaming. He smiled at them and said hello. Then he began to sing. Over the next 2 ½ hours Josh sang all of his hit songs, but he also snuck in a few of his personal favorites such as Verita, Smile, My December, and You’re The Only Place. Josh also sang a few cover songs by Bobby Segar, Johnny Cash, and George Harrison, and Elton Josh songs such as Tiny Dancer, Hurt, Turn The Page, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. 

The concert ended and everything was torn down and Josh spent with the Grobanites. He went back to his hotel room where he showered and dressed in pajamas. He walked down to Rebecca’s room and found that she was dressed in her pajamas watching a movie on HBO with a huge smile on her face. They watched the movie and chatted about the concert. Rebecca told him that it was one of the best concerts she’d ever been to and that was saying a lot since she’d been to concerts ranging from artists like CSNY, Phil Vassar, Keith Urban, Jethro Tull, Bobby Dylan, and Jimmy Buffett. They talked and chilled out together for hours, playing Guitar Hero and enjoying each others company. 

During the hours they spent together, they got to know each other on a deeper emotional level. Rebecca told Josh of how scared she was of her brother; Josh could tell she wasn’t joking around. She told him how he had threatened to hurt her and she shuttered to think of how this was possible. Rebecca also told Josh of the altercation between her dad and brother and how much that that had shaken her too. The blond haired young woman told Josh about all of the emotional turmoil she and her family had been through in the past 5 + years of dealing with her brother’s issues: the fights and arguments, the missed Christmas’ and holidays and much more. 

The crying young woman told Josh that years ago she had seen a therapist about this and didn’t sleep for a month while she dealt with it. Even though it was very painful, she dealt with it and was still dealing with it. This was the first time; she had told anyone how she had felt regarding the last few months worth of issues, from the threats to the altercation etc. 

Josh sat and listened as his friend poured out her heart to him. He felt his heart break as she told him her story, not out of pity, but out of love and concern for his friend. He hated to see any of his friends hurting so badly. Josh hugged her and held her close as she cried. Several tissues later, Rebecca looked up at Josh and smiled a small smile. She apologized for getting his t-shirt all wet, he said he didn’t mind though. 

Rebecca laughed and said, “You know what Josh, this is pretty ironic.” 

“Why is that?” he asked. 

“Because my brother’s name is Joshua as well and you’re the complete opposite of who he is. You’re funny as heck, smart, ambitious, motivated, hard working, loyal, trustworthy, so freaking talented, not to mention really good looking!” she said and laughed at Josh who blushed as her last comment. 

“Trust me Groban, you’re everything my brother isn’t and for that I love you…as a friend and brother” she stammered the last part as she gave him a hug.

Realizing what she had just said, Rebecca blushed deeply and hid her face from him, hoping he didn’t think she was a goofball for saying that. 

 

‘You idiot! Why did you say I love you? And as a friend and brother?! I wonder if he sees me like a sister? This is just great! He probably thinks you’re just another nutty person!’ she thought to herself. 

Josh was taken aback by this statement because it wasn’t often that he said “I love you” to someone. He said it mostly to his family and his closest and best friend, Lucia. 

‘Did she really just say I love you? And only as friend and brother? Is that all she sees me as?’ he thought to himself. 

The man made her look at him and he smiled at her. He saw the confusion in her eyes and he wasn’t going to lie and say that he wasn’t confused himself. Josh thanked her for sharing what she had with him and he promised not to tell anyone. The confused brown eyed man, told her that they’d talk later about this situation between them. She said she understood and gave him a small smile and thanked him for listening. 

They bid each other good night around 1:00a.m. and headed to their separate rooms to sleep which neither of them got much of that night.


	6. Chapter 6

The Taronga Zoo: http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au 

The morning sun shone brightly through the curtains of Josh’s hotel window. Slowly opening his eyes he rolled over and glanced at the clock on his phone, which read 9:50am. He knew he had rehearsal that afternoon but he figured he’d better get up anyway. He got up and went into the bathroom taking care of his morning routine. He came out and put on a pair of old jeans, a brown t-shirt and a grey hoodie and a baseball cap. 

Minutes later he left his hotel room with his cell phone, room key and wallet on him. Not wanting to disturb anyone else as they were all still asleep, he quickly made his way downstairs and outside where he stopped in at a local coffee shop. It wasn’t until he took that first sip of coffee that he felt awake. Josh ordered breakfast and sat in the shop drinking his coffee and eating breakfast as he watched people go by. He was happy not to have run into anyone from his band or crew; he needed this time by himself just to think. 

It wasn’t until his phone rang and he checked the time to see that it was almost 11:00am that he noticed how long he had been at the shop. Answering the phone quickly but quietly as he could without causing a scene, he rushed out of the shop leaving his money for the food on the table. Once back inside the hotel he met up with Brian, Lynne, David, and the rest of the band and crew and Rebecca who were all wondering where he had run off too. Once Josh explained where he had been they set off for The Sydney Opera House. 

Josh and the band rehearsed half of the songs for that evening’s concert, but Josh’s heart wasn’t into it, he was too focused on what had happened the night before between him and Rebecca. It wasn’t until lunch time that he got to sit down and take a break. While everyone else was sitting, eating and talking amongst themselves, Josh noticed that Rebecca was sitting by herself. Concerned, he walked over to her and sat down. 

“Hi Rebecca” Josh said.

“Hi” she replied in an almost whisper. 

He could tell immediately that something wasn’t right. She turned her head to look at him and he saw dark circles underneath her eyes. Josh was sure he looked the same way. He sighed inwardly. 

“Look Rebecca, about last night…” he was cut off by Brian calling his name telling him to get back on the stage. 

“We’ll continue this later, okay?” Josh asked as he got up from where he sat. She nodded her head. “Come and watch me sing. I know how much you like that.” he said with a forced smile. 

Josh went back to the stage and rehearsed several other songs. He knew he wasn’t giving it his all, but he was too distracted. The tired and distracted singer gave an inward sigh; he knew he’d have to step up his game tonight if he wanted to give a really great performance to his Australian Grobanites. The rehearsal ended just on time, Josh didn’t think he could have sung one more song. He said goodbye to his band mates and crew members and told them he’d see them tonight as he saw Rebecca leaving the soundstage area where he had been moments before. He ran to catch up with her. 

“Rebecca wait up!” he called to her. She stopped where she stood and waited for him. ‘The last thing I want to do is to hang out with you.’ she thought bitterly as she recalled the previous night’s events. She forced a smile at Josh as he caught up with her. 

“What’s up Josh?” she asked.

“I’ve got some time to kill and wanted to know if you’d like to hang out?” he asked. ‘Please say yes, even though I’m sure you don’t want to hang out with me…’ he thought. 

Rebecca really wanted to be alone, but she knew that Josh was doing his best to make the situation less awkward between them and it wasn’t like she knew anyone else in Australia… 

Rebecca gave an inward sigh and replied, “Sure Josh we can hang out.” as she spoke with false cheerfulness in her voice hoping that Josh didn’t sense it. 

The man did but said nothing. They headed outside and towards the Taronga Zoo nearby. They spent hours at the zoo visiting all of the different animals and trying their best to enjoy themselves. At one point, they sat down for a drink and to rest. Nothing had improved since that morning and though neither of them had said anything it, they both knew that the other one hated the tension between them. 

Rebecca was the first to speak; her voice was shaking with nervousness. “Look Josh, I don’t want to make this any more awkward than it already is. I hate this tension between us, it’s driving me crazy! I didn’t get much sleep last night because of all that was said and I can tell you didn’t either. What can we do to get back to the way things used to be?” she asked him. 

Josh was quiet for a few moments, his hands were sweating. ‘Why am I getting nervous? This is my friend Rebecca! I never get nervous around her, until now! Say something you   
goofball!’ he thought to himself.

“I don’t like this either, whatever this is.” he motioned between them. “I’d be lying if I said that what you told me last night wasn’t nerve wracking…” he trailed off and took a sip of his water. 

“I like you Rebecca, I really do. You’re a good and loyal friend. I’ve been able to tell you things that I haven’t told my best friend…who happen to be Sweeney” he said with a grin. She smiled a small smile at him. 

Rebecca sensed a ‘But’ coming. 

“It’s not every day that I hear people tell me they love me…well, I hear it from my fans and I know that they mean it in a artist-fan kind of way, but I’ve never had someone like you say it like that in that way. It’s not something I say to a lot of people…” he trailed off once again.

“So what exactly are you saying Josh?” she asked him taking a sip of her water. 

“Are you saying that you see me just as a fan, someone following you around from place to place while you’re on tour? Or do you see me as your younger sister?! A little sister who bothers you?” she asked with annoyance in her voice.

Josh could tell that what he had said had been misconstrued along the way. He needed to think of something and quick! As a nervous habit, he took off his baseball hat and ran his fingers through his hair and put his hat back on. Then he took another drink of water. 

“No Rebecca, I don’t see you as a fan or a little sister. I see you as…” ‘Damn why is this so hard? Spit it out Groban!’ he thought angrily to himself. 

“I see you as a friend…a friend that I’d like to get to know on a deeper more intimate level than how we already know each other” he said with a look of hope in his brown eyes.

Rebecca’s annoyance quickly faded and she gasped as his words finally registered with her mind. 

She opened her mouth to reply but the silence between them was cut with the loud ringing of Josh’s phone. Annoyed, he answered it to find out it was Brian calling to see where he was and to tell him he had an hour to get ready for the concert that evening. Josh said goodbye and shut his phone frustrated at being interrupted. 

“That was Brian telling me that I had an hour to get ready for the concert tonight. Let’s head on back and tonight we can continue this conversation. I promise you that.” Josh said as he got up and grabbed his water as Rebecca did the same. Josh could tell she was aggravated by the interruption. With a small smile, they made their way back to the hotel and got ready for the concert.

Josh gave a good performance that night. He knew that it wasn't his best and he felt guilty and pissed off at himself for letting down his Grobanites. Josh knew the reason for his mediocre performance, at least by his own standards. After the concert, he did the M&G thing, then quickly showered and said goodnight to his band and crew, telling them he was going out with Rebecca for coffee. Brian, told him not to be out too late, knowing he had another performance the next night.

They headed out to a quaint coffee shop that luckily had few patrons in it at this time of the night. They both ordered water and sat down. 

"Good job tonight Josh" she said. 

"Are you kidding me?" he asked. "That performance I just gave wasn't nearly as good as it should have and could have been!" he said with frustration in his voice. 

"Look Rebecca, I'm not annoyed at you. I'm just pissed at myself because I knew that I could have and should have done better tonight." he said. 

Uncomfortable silence followed and they both knew the reason why. 

"Josh, I want to tell you what I was going to tell you this afternoon." she said with a blush. "I'd like to get to know you better too on a more intimate level. In fact I'd like that a lot." she said with a smile on her face. Her heart felt lighter than it had in days as she spoke those words. 

It made Josh's heart soar to hear those words and to see her smile that big. In all the time they had spent together, he'd never seen her smile like that. 

Rebecca could see the happiness and relief in Josh's brown eyes. She was happy to see it. 

"I haven't been in a relationship with anyone for a very long time, almost 6 years in fact. So when we do this, I want to take it slow, ok?" she asked. 

Josh understood her reasoning and smiled at her and nodded his head. He reached over the table and took her hand in his. He smiled once again at her.

Over the next hour or so, they continued to laugh and talk. Josh held her hand the entire time. If someone had asked her what they had talked about, she wouldn't have been able to answer them because the only thing she felt was Josh's hand in hers and how it felt so right and perfect. They left the coffee shop hand in hand a while later, both smiling happily.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Perth: http://www.partner.viator.com/en/2672/tours/Perth/Perth-Lunch-Cruise-and-Tram-Tour/d389-3337LUNCHTRAM 

Fort McHenry: http://www.nps.gov/fomc/   
National Air and Space Museum: http://www.nasm.si.edu/   
Smithsonian Institute: http://www.si.edu/ 

Emerald green dress: http://images.teamsugar.com/files/upl0/0/3987/01_2008/Keira's-green-dress.preview.jpg   
Giorgio Armani black suit: http://italiancart.com/images/ARMANI83197.jpg 

Germano’s Trattoria: http://www.germanostrattoria.com/ 

Over the next weeks and months that passed, Josh toured throughout Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. He and his band played to concert halls and the occasional nearby bar when available. During this time, Rebecca and Josh grew closer, learning more about each other’s lives, and dreams, hopes and aspirations. They talked about how they would deal with the living situation once they had gotten back to the States. Neither of them was ready to jump into living together, as they both needed time to adjust to their new relationship. 

They also visited a variety of tourist attractions. In Brisbane, they went to the Queen Street Mall and The Valley which had several clubs and restaurants. When they traveled to Melbourne, they went to the Australian National Aviation Museum. While Rebecca and Josh were in Adelaide, they stopped at the Adelaide Chocolate Tour which they both enjoyed immensely. Lastly, while in Perth, they participated in the Perth Lunch Cruise and Tram Tour. Little did Rebecca know, that while shopping one day he had bought her a birthday gift knowing that her birthday was coming up in mid October. 

Josh gave his last performance at the Supreme Court Gardens and everyone packed up their luggage and equipment and headed back to the States for a few months break before they flew off to London and the surrounding area. 

After much discussion while on tour and on the long flight back to the States, Rebecca and Josh decided that it would be best if Rebecca lived at home with her parents just as she was currently doing and Josh could buy a small townhouse nearby. This way they could be close to each other and Rebecca’s parents wouldn’t be overly concerned about the young couple being in the same house together. Rebecca’s parents were very protective of their daughter and Josh understood completely their reasoning. 

It was only days after they had returned to the States and had rested up from the jetlag they suffered, that Josh suggested they spent Rebecca’s birthday together. She was in for a surprise!

On the morning of her birthday, Josh set his plan into action as he texted Rebecca informing her to be ready to go at 9:30a.m. when he came to pick her up and to wear comfortable clothes. 9:30a.m. came and Josh found himself standing at her door wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, a red T-shirt with a design on it and black zip up hoodie and his Converse. Rebecca wore a pair of dark blue jeans, blue and white New Balance tennis shoes, and white T-shirt with a design on it and a navy blue hoodie. They were soon out of the house and in Josh’s Porsche driving. Despite her many questions, Josh refused to tell her where they were going. 

After driving for what seemed like forever, they ended up at the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, where they took a private tour of the fort, learning all about its history. After this, Josh drove them down to Washington D.C. where they visited the National Air and Space Museum, and the Smithsonian Institute, all private tours of course.

After a long day of sightseeing and taking in some of the history and culture of Maryland, both Josh and Rebecca were very hungry. Josh and Rebecca really enjoyed spending this time with each other, often holding each others hands and smiling. Neither of them could remember the last time they had smiled this much and they loved it! 

Josh suggested they go back to her home and get ready to go out to dinner. Rebecca started to object saying that she had nothing nice to wear. 

As they got into the car, Josh just grinned at her and said, “Don’t worry honey.” With that he leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. After breaking the kiss, they were soon headed on back to Rebecca’s house.

All too soon, Josh had stopped the car in front of her house. Rebecca took notice that her parents weren’t home, they had gone out for the evening to a friend’s house. Giving his girl a goodbye kiss, he told her to be outside at 7:00p.m. She smiled at him once more and was soon out of the car and into the house and she watched him drive away.

Rebecca rushed up stairs into her room freaking out as what she was going to wear that night. A sight made her stop and gasp. There on her bed lay a beautiful emerald green dress. She could hardly believe her eyes! Also on bed was a matching purse and shoes. Rebecca was astonished that Josh had gotten this all for her! The shocked young woman knew that Josh knew she wasn’t the kind of young woman who liked to dress up a lot, but when she did, she loved it! 

Once she had gotten over her shock, she noticed the time and saw she didn’t have much until Josh came to pick her up. She quickly showered and dressed and was waiting for Josh outside at 7:00p.m. She expected to see Josh’s Porsche pull up the long driveway but instead she saw a limo pull up instead. Rebecca’s first thought was ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe he’s done this!’ She had a big smile on her face. The driver got out and escorted her to the limo where he opened the door, got in and that was when she saw him smiling at her. Neither of them had noticed that the limo was already on its way to its destination. 

Rebecca had never seen a better looking man than the one before her. Her first thought was ‘Damn he cleans up so well!’ She couldn’t help but smile back at him. Josh wore a tailored Giorgio Armani black suit with a black, white, and grey pinstriped tie with black shoes. In his hand he held a single red rose and he had a big smile on his face. Josh’s first thought when he saw her was ‘I knew she was pretty, but she looks absolutely beautiful in that dress!’ 

“Hi” she said to him as she took the rose and gave him a sweet kiss. 

“Hi back” as he broke off the kiss. 

“You look amazing! Green is defiantly your color. It really brings out your eyes.” he said as she blushed. 

“I could say the same for you Josh. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a man dressed that good!” she replied. 

“First off, thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me today! This is one of the best birthdays I’ve had a in very long time! You have no idea what this means to me!” she said as she gave him a hug.

He broke the hug and they sat in the limo talking and laughing until they reached their destination. Rebecca had no idea where they were and gasped in surprise when they got out and wee standing in front of Germano’s Trattoria. This was one of Rebecca’s favorite Italian restaurants in Little Italy. Josh had read up on the restaurant while he had been planning this and knew that this was the place to take her. 

They went in, got seated and ordered their wine which was a Rocca delle Macie, Rooccato, an Italian red wine. For an appetizer, they ordered bruschette. Josh ordered pasta with shrimp, garlic, basil, and vegetables. Rebecca ordered pasta with tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, capers, peperoncini, olives, and artichokes. For desert, they shared gelato. 

Over the next several hours, the young couple talked, laughed, ate and drank. By the end of the meal both of them were very happy and quite full. Neither of them wanting the night to end, Josh suggested they go for a walk around the town which they did after leaving the restaurant. They casually made their way around the town taking in the nightlife that was Little Italy, smiling at each other and holding each others hand. 

Both of them very tired from the long day and from the dinner they had just consumed, they decided to call it a night. It was around 12:00a.m. Josh called the limo and soon they were leaving Little Italy. 

Knowing that Josh’s home was a shorter distance away, they opted for being dropped off there than at Rebecca’s home. Rebecca called her parents and let them know what she was up to. Soon Rebecca and Josh found themselves standing outside Josh’s house, thanking the driver for his service. They quickly made their way inside because of the chilly fall weather.

Josh looked at her and smiled as they made their way into his home and sat down at the kitchen table drinking bottled water and silently enjoying each others company. 

Though it was silent all around them, Josh and Rebecca sat in his kitchen communicating with their eyes. All day long, their simple gestures of holding hands and the occasional kisses set off fireworks in the both of them. Rebecca would have been lying to herself if she thought she didn’t want to jump Josh, be it earlier in the day or now. She could tell by the look in his eyes and his touches and kisses all day long that he too was trying hard not to give in either. 

Who could blame her? A beautiful looking man, both inside and out? He had the soul and voice of an angel! He completed her and made her the happiest woman on her, whether it was walking through a museum or going out to dinner. Since they had been together, Josh had seen her smile more than ever before. It made him so happy to see her smile. Josh too had never known such happiness. His days were filled with thoughts of her and how happy she made him. When they were together, Josh felt like he could do anything in the world! 

As much as they both wanted to, they both knew it was the right decision, not to. This they all communicated with their eyes. 

Still sitting in the kitchen, nearing almost 1:30a.m. and seeing as both of them were exhausted, Rebecca asked Josh were she could sleep. To which he replied, “In my bed you goofball!” he said with a grin. 

They tiredly got up from where they sat and made their way upstairs. Josh gave Rebecca a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt as well as a new toothbrush as she went into the bathroom and changed. Meanwhile, Josh stripped off his clothes and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. Rebecca soon came out of the bathroom and he went in and brushed his teeth. When he came out, Josh saw Rebecca fast asleep in his bed. He smiled at the sight of her and climbed into bed turning off his bedroom light. He fell asleep holding her and smiling.


	8. Chapter 8

In order to understand the concert and artist, check out country music’s Piano Man Phil Vassar at www.philvassar.com If you don’t you’ll be pretty lost with the chapter. 

To view the song videos mentioned go here:  
Love Is A Beautiful Thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvpLOx6eLjY   
Last Day Of My Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibnz0doAKEc   
I’ll Take That As A Yes (The Hot Tub Song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OfNKk1Dv6Y   
Rose Bouquet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tg4XNDF9c   
Six Pack Summer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrW8g8DKSdk   
Carlene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S94tbGGjcIw 

A week or so later, Rebecca told Josh that she had a surprise for him. Being the curious guy that he was, he asked her a million questions trying to guess what the surprise was. She wouldn’t tell him and told him he had to wait until the evening of the October 25th to find out. This new information made Josh even more curious and he tried everything he could to get her to tell him from tickling her when they say to watch TV to taking her to dinner to watching her favorite Johnny Depp movies…nothing worked. 

The evening of October 25th came and Rebecca told Josh to shower and dress in comfortable clothes. The brown haired man dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, his Converse shoes, a brown T-shirt with a design on it and a black zip up hoodie and glasses. The green eyed woman showered and wore a pair of dark blue jeans, brown Nike tennis shoes, a gray T-shirt with a navy blue design on it with a white T-shirt underneath and a navy blue zip up hoodie. 

It was 4:00p.m. when they left her home. Josh was anxious and excited as a kid in a candy store. 

Rebecca just laughed at his antics and said, “Josh if you don’t settle down we’ll never get to where we’re going! C’mon, put on your seatbelt so we can blow this popsicle stand!” she said with a grin on her face. 

“Yes mom!” he retorted with an eye roll and playful grin on his face. 

She started the car and soon they were off driving down the road headed towards their destination.

“So where are we going?” Josh asked as he looked out the window at the scenery passing by. 

“I’ll give you one hint.” she said as she looked at him to gauge his reaction. He looked at her in anticipation. 

“Think of it as Billy Joel, but not Billy Joel meets country music” she said. Her cryptic message confused the young man even more and she laughed at the look on his face. 

He sat quietly as she drove trying to figure out what she meant. The confused man let his mind wander back over the time they had spent together trying to recall if she had ever said anything about this sort of thing, nothing came to mind. She looked over at him and saw that he was frustrated. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it and he looked at her.

The woman spoke, “Baby, don’t worry, I promise you, you’ll love every minute of it! If you don’t enjoy your self, I’ll make it up to you…somehow.” she said with a sassy wink. 

The brown eyed singer felt himself react to that simple gesture. It was no secret of the unresolved sexual tension between them. The stubble clad man smiled back at the woman with a smile he knew she loved. 

To break the tension between them, her phone rang altering her to a text message. Skillfully, she answered it while driving but she wouldn’t answer her man’s question as to who it was.

The blond haired woman only gave him this answer, “It has to do with the surprise, stop worrying honey and relax. Try listening to some music. You know that always helps you.”

The stressed out man did as she suggested and soon they were both singing along to the CD’s at the top of their lungs as they drove down the highway.

The couple soon reached their destination and parked the car and walked to where he thought they were going for the night. 

“You drove all this way to take me to this place?!” he said annoyed as he pointed to sign out in front.

“Josh, this is only the beginning of the fun tonight, trust me okay? Now let’s go inside, they’re waiting for us.” she said.

They went inside and into the back of the restaurant where Rebecca first saw Gordon or Gordo as he’s called. Gordo is Phil’s road manager. Gordo was sitting talking with another group of men all of whom had drinks in front of them. Josh hadn’t a clue as to who they were. 

“Gordo!” she called out as she walked up and hugged her friend as the other men continued talking. 

“It’s so great to see you!” she said with a smile. “Same here! Did you get my message?” he asked her as he hugged her. 

“I sure did Gordo.” she replied with a grin. 

Rebecca turned to Josh and said, “Josh, this is Gordo. He’ll be taking care of us while we’re here tonight.” 

“Nice to meet you Gordo” Josh said with a sincere smile and a handshake.

“Good to meet you too Josh” Gordo replied with a genuine smile.

“Well let’s get this party started!” Gordo said enthusiastically. 

The young couple smiled at Gordo and at each other. Gordo then interrupted one of the guys and motioned to the young couple.

The man got up from where he sat and smiled at them both. Rebecca had a huge smile on her face. 

“Hey Phil!” she said as she walked over and gave him a hug while smiling. 

“Hey Rebecca!” Phil said with a smile as he hugged her back.

After the hug ended, she motioned over to Josh.

“Phil Vassar, this is my boyfriend Josh.” she said with a blush in her cheeks. 

“Hey Josh. It’s so good to finally meet you. I’ve heard all about you! You play the piano right?” Phil said with an honest smile as he shook the young man’s hand. Phil wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a pair of tennis shoes, and a gray T-shirt. He also had a goatee and short brown hair and blue eyes. 

Josh became a bit worried when he heard Phil say that he had heard all about him. But he trusted Rebecca so he wasn’t worried. 

“Hey Phil. Yes I do play the piano. I’m assuming that’s what you play? I can honestly say I don’t know much about you” the brown eyed man said sheepishly. 

“Oh honey. You know a lot about Phil! Remember all those songs we listened to on the CD’s on the drive down? Those were all sung by Phil! Like “Just Another Day In Paradise”, “Let Me Love You Tonight”, and “In A Real Love”. This is the guy we were singing to!” she said as she smiled at her boyfriend. 

“This is Phil Vassar?!” he said with a big smile on his face as the realization hit as he figured out who Phil was and that he loved his music even before he met the man in front of him. 

After the formalities between them ended, Phil introduced them both to the band. Handshakes and “hellos” were passed around. Phil then offered for the two of them to eat dinner with the band, they happily agreed.  
After this, everyone sat down and ordered food and drinks. There was much laughter and smiles all around. Josh and Phil got into a deep discussion about pianos, discussing which models were better to use, etc. 

The dinner ended and the young couple thanked them for the dinner and drinks. Just as they were getting up to leave, Phil stopped them and said, “Why are you two leaving so soon? We’re just getting started!” he told them with a smile. 

Across from them at the table, Gordo looked at them and smiled with a knowing look in his eyes, one that Rebecca knew too well. Her face lit up when she saw this. Gordo handed them tickets, and Meet and Greet sticker passes. They both smiled at Gordo and thanked him and Phil immensely. 

After this, Phil said they had to get going and get ready for the show. They thanked Phil, Gordo and the rest of the band for a wonderful time and sat together in the pub talking about the enjoyable time they had just experienced. 

After they chatted for a while, they headed over to the venue. The couple was surprised, especially Josh to see so many fans. They soon found their seats within the venue, sat down and chatted with other fans. Rebecca soon got a text from Gordo telling her it was time for the M&G. While in line for the M&G Rebecca got to meet her old friends who she hadn’t seen in a long time and Josh chatted with fans, getting to know what they liked about Phil’s music, the different charities he helps etc. The M&G experience was enjoyable for them both and soon after the M&G was over, they headed back to their seats to enjoy a wonderful concert by Phil.

Phil came out wearing a black T-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans and black dress shoes. He played lots of great songs such as “Love Is A Beautiful Thing”, which described a family wedding, “Last Day Of My Life” which described the loss of a dear friend and the importance of treasuring each day of life that you have, as well as making love. 

Phil also sang, “I’ll Take That As A Yes (The Hot Tub Song)” which was a very sexy, sassy and romantic song which embodied Phil’s fun loving, romantic side. “Rose Bouquet” was a sad song about love and the loss of that love. “Six Pack Summer” was a fun loving, rowdy song that expressed the care free attitude of a day with friends out having fun. “Carlene” was Phil’s first hit as a singer/songwriter and a fan favorite telling the story of a woman his character met years later after high school and how they reconnected. It is based on Cindy Crawford.

During the concert, Phil sang covers of various songs and fielded questions from the audience, laughing and joking around with everyone. For his encore, Phil sang, “Piano Man” like only he could, complete with his band singing along. 

Josh knew he liked the music he had heard in the car, but he was awestruck at this man’s ability to not only play the piano but also to never stop moving! Josh was in awe of Phil’s energy and relationship with his fans. 

The captivated brown eyed man watched in amazement as this man before him jumped down into the crowd and sang, did pushups and handstands on his piano, played the guitar (“I’m A Believer”) and harmonica. Josh saw a lot of himself in Phil, in being so versatile as an artist and have crazy amounts of energy to say the least! 

The concert ended, the band cleared off the stage of their equipment and after a while the last fan left the venue. It was at that moment that the last fan left that he got an idea in his head.

Josh being himself couldn’t resist the lure of the empty piano that was up on the stage. 

Rebecca saw her boyfriend sneak up on stage, with a grin on his face and crazy, but fun look in his eyes. She knew that look all too well and grinned back at him as he took a seat on the piano bench.

It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. He never thought he’d have an entire venue like this to himself! The brown eyed man smiled at his girl and then he began to sing. 

He sang Awake, Remember When It Rained, So She Dances, Mai, In Her Eyes, Un Giorno Per Noi, Alla Luce Del Sole, L’Ultima Notte, Now Or Never, February Song, and Lullaby. For his encore he sang, the most beautiful version of You Raise Me Up that the green eyed woman had ever heard. It made her cry. He got teary eyed singing it himself. 

The green eyed woman found it very romantic that a man would get emotional enough to almost cry while singing. The last note ended and she got up on stage and kissed him deeply. Needless to say, it got hot and heavy quite quickly with the emotions and body heat between them. They grinned at each other and laughed at the others messed up hair and flushed cheeks. 

Rebecca never dreamed in a million years that she’d ever get a private concert! She sat in wonder taking it all in, his voice, his emotion, and his facial expressions. The brown haired man told her the stories behind the songs, which was something she really enjoyed hearing about. 

It was getting very late by the time he finished his mini concert. Both on a concert and sexual tension high, they left the venue and drove back home to Rebecca’s house at a very late hour. They parked the car and quietly crept into her home as not to awaken her parents and they fell asleep in each others arms. (TBC).


	9. Chapter 9

Deep Creek Lake: http://www.visitdeepcreek.com/ 

Chapter 9

The relationship the couple shared was one of trust, honesty, joyfulness, respect and love, even though neither of them had told the other ‘I love you’. There was no denying the sexual tension between the two of them, but they had both agreed to take things slow, both on the emotional and physical front (pardon the pun!). As much as they enjoyed getting to know each other physically from the hand holding, kissing and making out, what they loved even more was getting to know each other on a deeper more emotional level, more so than they had been.

Soon after Josh’s surprise, Halloween soon followed. The couple along with her parents helped to hand out candy to local tricker treaters in the area. After her parents went to bed, they watched movies and snuggled on the couch. Since neither of them watched horror movies, they watched some of their favorite movies like “The Holiday”, the “Harry Potter” movies, and some Disney movies. They ate popcorn and enjoyed each others company way into the night and into the early morning hours. Eventually they fell asleep on the couch snuggled close to each other with a blanket covering them.

Over the next few days, they discussed their holiday plans. They both decided to spend time with their own families for Thanksgiving. Family was very important to them both and neither of them had seen their family for quite some time. 

The days leading up to Thanksgiving were hard on them both, but they tried to do as much as they could. On 11/1/2008 they went to see a football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns, using the season tickets Rebecca’s dad had given her. They both really enjoyed the game in spite of the cold temperatures. 

They also took a short holiday to Deep Creek Lake, located in Garrett County. While in Deep Creek they stayed at the Twins Ponds cabin. Twin Ponds had two ponds on the property, a hot tub, a huge fireplace, Nintendo 64, 2 TV’s and VCR’s, kitchen and washer and dryer and it slept 8 people. Needless to say between the huge fireplace, TV and VCR, Nintendo 64 and the hot tub, Rebecca and Josh very much enjoyed themselves! Especially in the hot tub!

While on their holiday they went horseback riding, courtesy of a local business that let the two of them borrow horses and equipment for the day. This was something Rebecca hadn’t done in quite some time and was something she really enjoyed. The dark blond haired young woman was an experienced rider. Rebecca wore an old pair of dark blue jeans, black riding boots, a tan fleece like, cotton hoodie, an old black t-shirt, black riding gloves and a black velvet helmet. Josh wore a pair of old blue jeans as well, an old black hoodie, borrowed black riding boots and a black velvet helmet. 

Josh however had never been horseback riding and so she taught him how to ride, even if all they did was walk, trot and canter on the horse. He was a quick learner and this made her job very easy.

At one point they were walking down the trail and Rebecca suggested that they try trotting. 

Josh replied, “I don’t know about that honey. After all, I just started this whole riding thing.”

“Don’t worry, Josh. If something happens I’ll be here.” she replied with a comforting smile. 

They rode up into a huge clearing in the woods and Rebecca then stopped her horse and told Josh to bring his horse up next to hers, so she could show and tell him what it meant to trot and he did so. 

The young woman then began to talk, “When a horse trots it means that he has two of his four legs off to the ground at one time.” With that said Rebecca demonstrated this as she left where Josh was and walked and then trotted her horse around in a wide circle. While trotting, she posted as well, as was habit. 

Josh asked curiously, “What’s that you’re doing as you ride? The rising and sitting thing?”

“It’s called posting or rising. I learned it many years ago when I took lessons. It’s what a rider does as a warm up tool. You rise out of the saddle for one beat and sit for the second beat. It takes some practice. Do you want to try?” she asked him.

“Sure, I’ll try anything once!” he replied with a smile. 

She showed him how to get his horse to go from a walk into a trot. Rebecca laughed at the sight of him bouncing around in his saddle. He did look funny. Then she instructed him on how to post correctly as he trotted. The first several attempts were just that, attempts, but after a while he eventually got the idea and was soon trotting around her in a big circle. 

She smiled brightly at him as he rode in circles around her. He was smiling too. After several minutes, he stopped, as he was quite tired. 

He then asked, “What else can you show me?” 

“I can canter. Want to see?” she asked him. He nodded his head.

Before she took off, she spoke, “Cantering is when a horse has three of its four legs off the ground at once. It’s faster than a trot but not as fast as a gallop. Cantering is natural for all horses. When you canter, you sit in your saddle, your upper body and leg remains still, your arms and hands should be relaxed, but keep in contact with the horse’s mouth. Let me show you.” she replied. 

The young woman then got her horse from a walk to a trot and then a canter. She cantered around the entire area of the clearing. Josh was amazed at what he saw. He noticed how relaxed and carefree she looked with a smile on her face. 

After several minutes she ended up right beside him, breathing hard. After she had taken a drink from her canteen, she looked up at him. 

“Would you like to try?” she asked.

“Sounds good to me” he replied with a smile.

She then instructed him on how to start off from a walk and then when comfortable go into a trot and then once comfortable with that go into a canter. She instructed him every step of the way and soon it was him who was riding around her at a canter.

When he finally came back to her, she grinned at him and said, “Are you sure that you’ve never ridden before?”

“Nope, never.” he replied.

She glared at him. “Honest honey, I’ve never ridden before” he said. 

“I believe you.” she told him with a smile. 

“It’s getting late, did you want to head on back?” she asked.

He smiled at her and yawned and nodded his head.

“Tired already? Looks like someone needs a nap!” she quipped as she turned her horse and headed off down the trail at a walk, then trot. He just stuck his tongue out at her as she rode down the trail. He quickly followed behind her. 

They soon found themselves back at where they had gotten the horses. They thanked the staff who had loaned them the equipment and horses and said goodbye. They spent the night playing Nintendo 64. 

He really enjoyed his time with her and he was glad to experience something new.

The last night of their short holiday, they spent the evening eating dinner by candlelight and drinking wine from the local winery. For dinner they ate trout and asparagus and jasmine rice. After dinner they played on Nintendo 64 and watched various shows on TV. After this, Josh suggested they spend one last night in the hot tub which Rebecca agreed too. They spent quite a long time in the hot tub drinking wine and talking and really getting to know each other. 

They started talking about their families. The dark blond haired woman really enjoyed hearing about his family; from him and his brother’s crazy antics around the holidays to his favorite Christmas gifts. Josh then asked her about her family, even though he had already met them. She was silent for several minutes and he could tell that something was wrong.

The concerned man wrapped his arms around her and held her close. 

She finally spoke, “You’ve met my family and they seem to really like you. I’m glad they do because it’s not every day that I bring a guy home to meet my family. I know that I’ve told you quite a bit about my family and the issues they we’ve dealt with. But I haven’t told you everything.”

The reserved woman took a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to calm herself. Josh hugged her and held her even closer.

She continued to speak, “For the past 5 or so years we’ve had to deal with my brother’s drug issues. Needless to say it hasn’t all been great. I can remember some really bad Christmas’ where we didn’t even get a tree. One in particular stands out to me. It must’ve been 3 years or so ago when my dad and brother got into a big fight because my brother had stolen money from me and them and went and bought drugs. There was lots of anger and yelling and hurt.”

The woman stopped speaking as her mind went back to that night and she was silent once again. Josh patiently waited for her to continue.

When she was ready she continued, “But that’s nothing as compared to what happened recently. Long story short, my brother got high and my dad and brother got into an altercation and he was put in jail.” Tears spilled over onto her cheeks as she recalled every detail in her mind of those events. She had never been so scared in her life.

“Luckily through out all of this, I’ve gone to see him, as have my parents and we’re hoping soon he can come home and get into a program to help him.” she said through her tears.

Josh said nothing this entire time; he just held her close to him. Sensing that she was shivering, either from reliving the memories or something else entirely, Josh picked her up and took her out of the hot tub. Rebecca who was still crying on his shoulder didn’t notice her boyfriend had picked her up and was carrying her from where the hot tub was into their bedroom.

Josh sat her on the bed and without a word he began to take off her bathing suit and once he had it off, he replaced it with a pair of her sweat pants and a t-shirt. The man became aware that this was the first time he had ever seen his girlfriend naked. To him, she was beautiful having all of the right curves. She wasn’t overweight by any means, but he was happy to see that she had some meat on her body; he didn’t like his women skinny. He’d be lying to himself if he thought the sight of her didn’t turn him on. Needless to say, he could already feel himself becoming aroused. 

He held her and it was then that Rebecca realized that she was out of the hot tub and on the bed.

“Josh, I’m so sorry that I cried and made you get out of the hot tub so soon. I know that we were really enjoying ourselves in there, talking and whatnot. Why don’t we go back in there?” she suggested as she started to get off the bed.

He stopped her and it was then that she saw the look on his face. His deep brown eyes shone with unshed tears. He blinked and those tears silently fell from his eyes. Rebecca could see that they weren’t tears of pity, but tears of concern. 

The brown eyed man began to talk his voice thick with emotion, “Rebecca, honey…don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong, ok? I’m not crying because I pity you, I’m crying because what you shared with me tonight was so heart felt and heart breaking that I feel an even deeper connection with you. I know that what you told me was really difficult to share. You spoke volumes to me with your strength and faith in how you’ve handled and are handling this situation. No one should have to go through what you’ve been through and you’re so brave and beautiful to have gone through this and come out a stronger and tougher person.”

Rebecca was now crying even more tears from what her boyfriend had just said. “Josh, other than my best friends and family members, I haven’t had anyone tell me what you just told me. Thank you for listening to me, for holding me when I cried, for caring for me and comforting me. Thanks for the warm clothes too.” she smiled at him.

He smiled at her and it was then she realized he was the one who was shivering from being cold.

“Oh baby, thanks for the clothes, but I don’t want you to stand there and freeze! Go and change.” she said.

“No peeking” he said with a grin. 

Josh got up and stripped off his wet bathing suit. Rebecca pretended to follow what he said, but she looked any way. She watched while he stripped off his wet bathing suit and let it fall to the floor. ‘Damn he has a hot body!’ she thought as she looked at his back, arms, legs, shoulders and butt and the rest of his marvelous body. She gazed as his hands imagining them touching her skin and that thought alone and the sight of him before her made her blush as she felt herself getting turned on. 

‘If the back view is this good, I wonder what the front looks like!’ She thought to herself. This thought led her mind to wander more and she blushed more and more, getting more turned on. 

Josh finally came back to the bed dressed in a pair of warm sweat pants and an old white t-shirt, he wore his glasses too. 

“Why are you blushing?” he asked with a grin. “Were you spying on me?” he inquired.

Silence met him. “I’ll take that as a yes” he said as he started to tickle her mercilessly. She squealed and laughed with delight and tried her best to get away from him. 

“Resistance is futile!” he said in a booming voice. “Surrender now!” he called again.

The woman just laughed and tried to get away from him still. After several minutes, the laughter and tickling died down and that was when she made her move. Josh was lying on the bed next to her, staring up at the ceiling. 

The woman pounced on her brown eyed man, startling him and making him cry out in surprise. Then she began her assault. She began tickling him mercilessly just as he had done to her. Josh of course squirmed and did his best to try and get away but he was trapped and he secretly enjoyed it. Who wouldn’t love getting tickled by a beautiful woman such as Rebecca?

It was when she had taken a momentary pause to catch her breath that he turned the tables once again. He rolled her over onto her back and retaliated by kissing her deeply. That was something he shouldn’t have done because she responded back with a kiss that was just as powerful. Soon hands and fingers were roaming over and touching each others bodies, moans escaped each others mouths and soon they found themselves, still clothed, covered in damp sweat and crying out each others name as they surrendered to their bodies taking them over the edge. 

As badly as each of them wanted to go further with their physical relationship, they knew that it wasn’t the right time or place for such a thing to occur. They happily fell asleep in each others arms. 

But not all was well for our loving couple…on the horizon lay troubling times…how they would survive was up to them. (TBC).


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Thanksgiving quickly approached and they each spent that day with their families as well as lots and lots of food. It was one of the most memorable Thanksgivings for them both. 

After Thanksgiving had ended, Josh flew out to see Rebecca once again and spend some more time with her. He even did a little snooping around in order to surprise her with a really unique gift that he hoped she really liked. The man knew she really enjoyed pictures. 

The weeks leading up to Christmas quickly drew near and Josh was all prepared. He had done his research and knew he had found the perfect gift for her. They spent a lot of their time flying back and forth to see each other, as time and money would allow. 

Meanwhile, Rebecca too was searching for the perfect gift for Josh. She knew that he loved playing instruments especially the piano and drums. She too had done her research and was all ready to give him his gift come Christmas time.

Christmas this year was special for them both. They both spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with their families and really enjoyed this time together. But they were both eager to get back to each other. The day after Christmas, Josh showed up at Rebecca’s house around 1:00pm. 

The tired but excited man wore a pair of loose fitting blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a black hoodie and glasses. Needless to say she was excited to see him! Her parents and brother welcomed Josh in and they all reminisced about their Christmas. Rebecca told Josh he could stay as long as he wanted; this made the brown eyed man smile.

After he had settled in, they caught up on each other’s lives and talked for hours. That night, Josh ate dinner with Rebecca and her parents and brother. Everyone spent long hours talking and laughing. Josh told them all about his travels, his various tours and all about his life. He felt very comfortable with her family. 

At one point during the evening, Josh told his girlfriend that he had something for her. He quickly raced upstairs and grabbed the said gift. He was back downstairs in no time. He had a big smile on his face. 

He spoke, “I did a little research and found out that years ago you took a photography class in high school and that you were an awesome photographer!” 

She blushed at his comment and smiled.

“I contacted your old photography teacher and luckily he had kept a bunch of your photos. I must say, you’re phenomenal!” Josh continued on as he passed out some of her photographs from years past. Everyone really liked what they saw and told her so.

“The camera you used was a really old fashioned kind of camera, wasn’t it?” he asked her.

“I think so, why?” she asked him in return.

“Because here’s part of your Christmas gift” he said as he handed her a wrapped gift box.

“Part of?” she asked, confused. 

“You’ll find out soon enough honey.” he said. With a nod of his head, he indicated she should open her gift. 

She opened it to find a beautiful black digital camera. It was a Canon EOS 50D black digital camera to be exact! The young woman couldn’t believe her eyes! It was one of the most beautiful cameras she had ever seen! A huge smile lit up her face as she looked at the camera and then up at Josh. He was smiling too. 

“Thank you so much Josh! I love it. It’s wonderful. I can’t wait to try it out!” she said in a very excited voice.

She got up and gave him a big hug and a sweet kiss on the mouth. 

She sat down and showed off her gift to everyone. Just as they were admiring her gift, she remembered she had to get Josh’s gift.

Excusing herself from the room, she quickly went and got his gift and came back into the room.

She came back in with a smile on her face, sat down and began to speak. “Josh, I know that you love to play the piano and you use it quite often on tours. I called your mom and dad, who are very nice by the way, as is your brother and talked to them about the house you live in and how much space you have. After much discussion and further research, I got you your gift.” 

The somewhat nervous young woman handed him a business card. 

“This is the name of the number one Yamaha piano dealer in the UK. I’ve talked with them and said they will custom build you a Yamaha Grand Piano of your choice. They’ll ship, delivery and set it up free of charge.” she said.

Josh could hardly believe what she was saying! He smiled at her and then gave her a big hug and loveable kiss. 

“I can’t believe that you’re doing this for me!” he exclaimed. “This is unbelievable! What a wonderful and thoughtful gift.” he said as he hugged his girlfriend again. 

Josh then said, “The camera I gave you has everything you need to upload the pictures to your computer and print them out. It’s state of the art.” he said with a smile.

Now it was Josh’s turn to surprise her. 

The singer continued on, “The reason for the new camera is because I wanted to know if you’d be interested in being my official tour photographer for the upcoming 2009 tour? We’ll be heading to Canada, then London and then who knows where. So what do you say?” 

The woman stared at him in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me?!” she exclaimed. She smiled a big smile and gave him another hug and a kiss on the cheek. 

She looked at her family members who were taken aback by the young man’s request and rightfully voiced their opinions. After all, this was a huge request he had made and they were a bit protective of her. 

“That sounds like a great idea honey, but what about your job. You just started and it’s not like you can just up and quit. This is something we need to discuss further.” her mom said.

“Wow, Rebecca that sounds like such an awesome gift!” her brother exclaimed as he gave her a hug.

“That’s quite the gift there Josh. And it’s a great one at that, but her mom’s right, we need to discuss this more.” her dad said. 

“There’s nothing that I’d love more!” Rebecca said. 

Josh could hear the hesitation in her voice.

“But what about my parents and family? Their jobs and my job? My sister, brother, niece and my sister’s husband? The economy’s already horrible and it’s not like they can afford to take leave of their jobs and come and visit.” she asked him as in her head she began to over analyze the situation. 

Josh knew the importance of family and how it was crucial to keep a sense of normalcy when a loved one was away from home for long periods of time, in terms of supporting other family members financially, emotionally, physically and mentally. 

He inwardly sighed and mentally chastised himself for thinking that this was a good idea. 

The perplexed man knew that it would be very hard for Rebecca to be away from her family for so long. Even though emails, telephone calls were useful during the long stretches away from home, nothing replaced seeing and visiting with your family while away from home. He understood this completely. 

There was unease and tension in the room.

“Look, you don’t have to give me an answer now. How about after I leave, you can discuss it then and get back to me?” he questioned.

They each smiled and nodded their heads.

“Can we let you know after the first of the year?” her mom asked Josh.

“That sounds good to me.” he said with a somewhat forced smile, hating himself in that moment for even suggesting that she come with him on tour, in spite of knowing the toll it takes on a family. He wanted to have her to himself, was that such a bad thing? But he could also see where her family was coming from.

To say that the rest of Josh’s stay was awkward was a bit of an understatement. He was the kind of man who highly disliked any kind of tension. It made him nervous, a bit high strung and clumsy. Everyone did their best to avoid the pink elephant in the room. After all, what else could they do? Josh felt guilty at asking Rebecca and her family of something as huge as this. He repeatedly apologized over and over for putting them in this situation, to which they told him he had nothing to be sorry for. 

Now he knew how his parents and brother felt when David Foster came to his family and asked if he could take their son/brother away from them for long stretches at a time. It was an uneasy, anxious feeling that they all felt. 

Josh had originally planned to stay until after the New Year, but he could see that it would be better if he left. The last night at dinner, he told her family that he’d be leaving in the morning, to head back to California. They were disappointed to hear that he was leaving; they all really enjoyed his company. Her family reassured him that they would in fact get back to him, and that it was nothing personal against him about how they’d been acting. He didn’t blame them at all; it’s what he would’ve done in that situation too.

Dinner was a quiet affair that night, everyone lost in their own thoughts. After dinner, Josh packed up his things and they all said goodbye. Rebecca drove him to the airport, silence filled the car. She dropped him off curbside, and he got out and gathered his bags.   
She got out as well and they held each other for a long time. He then leaned down and kissed her sweetly. It was full of tenderness and care, hope and forgiveness. 

“I’ll call you when I get to California.” he said as he broke the kiss and leaned down to grab his bags.

“I’ll call you after we’ve made our decision.” she replied with sadness filling her voice.

“I wish we weren’t leaving each other like this.” she said with a sad sigh. 

She felt herself welling up because of the circumstances surrounding the situation, because she was going to miss him something crazy and because she too felt something stirring deep within her body. Was it nerves and butterflies? Or was it something stronger, deeper and more profound? Something like love? Rebecca inwardly sighed. She wasn’t sure what she was feeling and she was terribly confused about everything! There were something she did know, like: she had never met a man like Josh, who treated her as kindly and much as an equal as anyone else, that it had been many years since she had had a boyfriend and he was the only one who made her feel beautiful and more self-confident and that he was one hell of a kisser, singer and piano player! 

“Me either.” he replied.

“I’m not sorry you asked me to come with you on tour. But I’m sure you can understand my family’s dilemma?” she asked.

He nodded his head as he felt himself getting teary eyed over leaving her like this. Something stirred deep inside him, it wasn’t physical, that’s for sure, but much more emotional. Was it love? He wasn’t sure, he did know a few things: 1. He loved the time he had spent with Rebecca, both alone and with her family, getting to know her more. 2. He was going to miss his plane if he didn’t hurry up. 3. He really shouldn’t have drunken 3 ½ huge cups of coffee this morning because now he had to pee really badly! 4. He wanted nothing more than to take away all of the confusion, and tension that had been present the past few days and 5. He wanted to kiss her really badly!

And he did just that. He dropped his bags, and pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately. More passionately than before. He could feel everything: her racing heart beat, her surprise at the intensity of the kiss, her falling into it and kissing him back just as passionately. She too could feel everything about him: his wild heart beat, the taste of the coffee he drank earlier. This wasn’t a ‘let’s make out in the airport terminal’ kiss. This was a ‘I think I love you, but I don’t know’, ‘I’m sorry for all of this crazy confusion and tension that we’ve been going through these past days’, ‘I’ll miss you like crazy’, kisses. 

It was a kiss that left them breathless with tears running down both their faces. They wiped each other’s tears away. No words needed to be said, it was all said in that one kiss. Without another word, Josh hugged her something fierce, smiled a brave, yet bright smile, grabbed his bags and left. The last thing she saw was Josh walking away from her, his bags in hand with tears running down her face, once again.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The days that passed were painstakingly slow for them both. Neither of them would admit it but they were anxious about the decision that was going to be made. After many discussions, on Rebecca and her family’s part, a choice was finally made. Rebecca made plans, and called and made sure it was okay with Josh’s parents Lindy and Jack, as well as Chris. They agreed that it would be okay to do. Soon Rebecca found herself on Josh’s doorstep a few days later, trying to hide the smile on her face.

It was evening, as she knocked on the door. Josh answered it and momentarily froze. He couldn’t believe she was here! His face immediately lit up with a big, bright smile. He invited her inside as she brought in her one piece of luggage. Josh then captured her in a hug that took her breath away. She didn’t think he’d ever let up! She opened her eyes as Josh was hugging her and saw that Josh’s family was standing behind him. She gave them a bright smile and mouthed ‘thank you’. They all smiled back at her. They were glad to see their child so happy.

Finally Josh let up on his hug, he couldn’t stop smiling! He took in her appearance: her green eyes were brightly shining; she had a happy smile on her face, short cut brown hair, brown Nike tennis shoes, khakis, a yellow thermal shirt and a dark green zip up hoodie on. She looked wonderful, even a bit tired because of the jet lag. 

“Thank you so much for this wonderful surprise honey! I can’t believe you did this all for me!” Josh exclaimed as he gave her another hug. Rebecca then took in his appearance as she watched him hug his family members. He wore a pair of blue jeans, his Cons, a dark blue long sleeve shirt and a black zip up hoodie and glasses. 

He released her and then he turned and looked at his parents and brother. They were all smiling, but there was something else, wasn’t there? Then it hit him like a ton of bricks, they were the ones who had set this all up! He smiled at them and went over and gave them a big hug. 

Just then a ball of fur came whizzing on by and began jumping up and down barking. Rebecca laughed and petted the dog. “This is Sweeney, my adorable dog. He seems to have just woken up from a nap and that’s why he’s all rambunctious and crazy.” Josh said as he played with Sweeney. 

“I hope you like dogs.” Chris said. 

“I do, I have a Siberian husky back home.” she said with a smile. 

Soon she got all settled in and ate dinner with his family. It was really nice to be around such wonderful people as was Josh’s mom, dad and brother! Chris told Rebecca many stories of when Josh and he would get into trouble. Lindy told stories of Josh’s childhood, the ones that got him all embarrassed. In spite of the embarrassment, the young woman really enjoyed her time at dinner. She told Josh’s family about herself, her family, education, and other things about herself. They seemed to like and accept her which was important not only for her but for Josh as well. 

After the dishes were cleared away and everyone was sitting around drinking coffee, Rebecca spoke up loud enough to say, “I have an announcement to make. As ya’ll know, my family and I had to make a decision a few days ago regarding Josh’s tour. Here’s the deal, my parents are allowing me to go. Here’s the catch, whenever Josh has a break in his schedule, be it, a few days or a week or whatever, I’m going to be visiting my parents.”

They were all quiet as they processed the information. 

Josh was the first one to speak, “That sounds like a really good idea honey. I’ll run it by my management and see what they say. It shouldn’t be a problem though.” He sounded happy and relieved with the good news she had just shared.

Josh’s parents and brother chimed in with their own comments, reaffirming that her and her parents had made a good decision. It felt good to have their input and Rebecca smiled at them.

With the good news out of the way, the conversations turned back to more lighthearted topics. Everyone finished their coffee and left the kitchen for the living room where there was a big HD TV. They all sat around the living room talking and laughing more. Chris suggested they all watch a movie together and he said Rebecca could pick out what DVD she wanted to watch. She chose “Casino Royale”. It was one of her favorite movies. 

Josh’s parents dismissed themselves from watching the movie, saying how late it was and that they were going to head off to bed. The two sons bid their parents good night and sat down with Rebecca to watch the movie. Halfway through the movie, Josh looked over and saw that Rebecca had fallen asleep curled up next to him with a blanket over her. She was even snoring softly. He smiled as he watched her sleep, she was so cute!

Josh motioned to his brother to stop the DVD and turn off the TV because she was sleeping. Quietly, Josh picked up the sleeping young woman and carried her to his bedroom where they’d be sleeping. 

She stirred as he lay her on the bed, “Baby, is the movie over yet?” she asked, and half mumbled.

“No baby, you fell asleep. So we turned it off. Don’t worry about it. We’ll finish it another time. Just go back to sleep.” he said with a smile in his voice.

Josh then pulled the covers over her and got into his pajama’s, brushed his teeth and into bed. He held her close as she slept; he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, quickly falling asleep himself. 

The time that Rebecca was at Josh’s parent’s house passed quickly and everyone enjoyed themselves. Josh took her on a tour of his favorite places around town. One evening the Groban family and Rebecca went out to a movie. The last night that she was at Josh’s parents home, the young woman insisted on cooking them all dinner. She didn’t cook often, but it was something she thoroughly enjoyed. At dinner they ate grilled rock fish, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. They also drank both red and white wines. After dinner they sat around, talking and relaxing, commenting on how wonderful the dinner had been. 

Josh’s parents soon went to bed and Chris immersed himself in some video games up in his room. Soon the young couple found themselves sitting alone on the couch in the living room sipping red wine and enjoying each other’s company. No words needed to be said. Rebecca smiled at Josh as she sipped her wine; she loved what he was wearing: a pair of dark blue jeans, white socks, Cons, and a brown button down dress shirt that brought out his eyes. The shirt was Rebecca’s request of Josh that night and he knew that she really liked that shirt. Josh could see the way she was looking at him and smiled back at her. 

Josh could help but love what she was wearing: a pair of low rise blue jeans, white socks, blue and white tennis shoes, and a white camisole with a form fitting royal blue cashmere zip up hoodie from Old Navy. The man thought she looked wonderful tonight, as she did every time he saw her. But there was something about her wearing that royal blue color that brought out her eyes. 

He had an idea as he put his wine glass down on the coffee table and said, “Wait right here. I’ll be right back.” he said with a smile and a quick kiss to her nose.

Josh went quickly to his room and got the acoustic Yamaha guitar, the one that he had gotten as a birthday gift a few years ago. He was self-taught on this instrument too. The eager man made his way back to the living room where she sat waiting for him in anticipation. He smiled at her as he sat down on the couch. Josh took a sip of his red wine, positioned the guitar on his lap just so, and began to play and sing. 

The woman sat there memorized as she listened to him sing and play. From the first word he sang and first note he played, she knew exactly what song it was. 

‘God bless you Eric Clapton for writing such a beautiful and romantic song!’ she thought as Josh sat there and sang to her. 

“It's late in the evening  
She's wondering what clothes to wear  
She puts on her make up  
And brushes her long blonde hair  
And then she asks me  
Do I look alright  
And I say yes, you look wonderful tonight

We go to a party  
And everyone turns to see  
This beautiful lady  
That's walking around with me  
And then she asks me  
Do you feel alright  
And I say yes, I feel wonderful tonight

I feel wonderful  
Because I see the love light in your eyes  
And the wonder of it all  
Is that you just don't realize  
How much I love you

It's time to go home now  
And I've got an aching head  
So I give her the car keys  
She’ll help me to bed  
And then I tell her  
As I turn out the light  
I say my darling, you were wonderful tonight  
Oh my darling, you were wonderful tonight”

The last note ended and the young woman sat there awestruck at what she had just seen and heard. Never in all her life would she imagine she’d be sitting in her boyfriend’s parent’s home, watching and listening him sing an outstanding cover of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”! 

She had a huge smile on her face, with tears running down her cheeks. Josh looked at her with concern as he put the guitar aside and moved closer to where she sat. 

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, his voice filled with worry. 

“Was I really that bad?” he said with a grin.

“No Josh, you weren’t bad at all! That was one of the most amazingly beautiful and romantic things you’ve ever done! I’ve never had anyone ever sing to me, not especially like that! I don’t know what else to say. I’m in awe of you, you never cease to amaze me.” she replied as she leaned over and kissed him slowly and passionately, showing him just how much she loved what he had just done for her. 

Their passionate kisses soon led to a slow and steamy make out session. They came back up for air, many minutes later, both smiling at each other, cheeks flushed because of the passion between them and the wine they’d been drinking. As much as they each wanted to continue this battle of raging hormones and passionate kisses, they knew that now was neither the time nor place to act on those feelings. Secretly, they each hoped that that time would come sooner rather than later. But whenever the moment came, they knew it would be special. 

They’d be lying to each other and to themselves if they didn’t think that the other person didn’t want them, in that way, after all they were human. They’d spent more than one night discovering what the other person loved through kisses, soft touches, words of direction, encouragement, comfort, love, and trust. Even though the couple hadn’t “gone all the way”, they felt that discovering each other this way connected them on a deeper, more personal level. This connection, they felt would help to deepen and intensify their love for each other when that special moment did come. 

Knowing that Rebecca had to go back home the next day, to spend time with her own family before the tour began a few months later, the couple spent this time in each other’s arms, not saying a word, but just enjoying the moments they had. 

The guitar was safely put aside as Rebecca lay in Josh’s arms, both of them covered by a blanket. Josh sighed happily and considered himself blessed by God above that he had found this wonderful and amazing young woman that he was holding. He never thought he’d be happy again after his breakup with January. True, his breakup was very difficult, the ending of any relationship is, no matter if it’s a marriage or a breakup with a girlfriend. It had taken time, lots of love from his family, and friends, and healing from the music that he sang and wrote, but in the end, he knew he’d be okay on his own and could come to terms with his breakup with January. 

The man was lost in thought as he recalled back to that day when he had met Rebecca. He even remembered the month that they had met. Figuring out what the current month was in his mind, he was a bit shocked to find that they had been together so long. This relationship was different than any other that he had been in. He felt safe and secure, comfortable to be himself, not who someone else wanted him to be. It was refreshing to find a woman like the one he was currently holding onto, who accepted him in spite of his flaws. And he had many, to say the least. 

He could be moody, impatient, irrational, lazy, (especially when he wasn’t on tour, even sometimes then too!). He could be argumentative, hostile when he was in a bad mood, and grumpy in the morning because everyone knew he wasn’t a morning person. 

As a couple, they had had their share of arguments and Josh had expressed all of these feelings. Josh thought back on an argument that they had had however long ago, over something stupid. At the time, he had felt a lot of those feelings and he knew that it was alright to feel that way. This particular argument, really gave him insight, into her personality. She could be moody and impatient, just like him, silent (which either meant she was mad or just being quiet), argumentative, blunt, rude, sarcastic, and stubborn. 

Even though they had had their share of disputes, Josh was happy to get to experience new things with her, like seeing a concert from a fans viewpoint, riding horses and seeing so many different sights in Australia. He was the happiest that he had been in a really long time. 

Meanwhile, Rebecca too was lost in her own thoughts. She thought back to the day they’d met and how far she and they had come in all this time. Personally, she never thought she’d ever be in love again, not after her last relationship. Nor did she ever think she’d be able to trust someone again, especially guys. But they had come a very long way. Rebecca was proud of herself to have trusted Josh enough to have been able to tell her about her past, both in relationships and with her family. She was happy to have finally met someone who truly and deeply cared for her. A man who she knew had her whole being in mind in every word and action that he did. 

She thanked God for allowing the two of them to meet. She believed in destiny and divine intervention and she knew that this is what it was as she was being held by this man. For the first time in for what seemed like forever, she felt happy and at peace with her life, in spite of the whirl wind that she was still going through: the family issues she was still dealing with. But all in all, life was good; she had a good job, a family who loved her, a few close friends, and a wonderful boyfriend. 

Josh was brought back to reality with Rebecca calling his name. He looked down at her and smiled. 

“Yes honey?” he asked. 

“There’s something that I need to tell you, that I’ve been meaning to tell you for some time.” she said with nervousness in her voice.

The man sat up, more alert now. They repositioned their bodies so they were facing each other, and Josh took her hands and held them and looked into her eyes. 

He could tell that she was a bit nervous, and gave her a warm smile. 

Rebecca smiled back and did her best to calm herself. “You know that I’m not one to beat around the bush, so here goes nothing: I love…” 

Her statement was cut off as Josh leaned over, pulled her closely to him and kissed her. It was the most tender, sweet, loving kiss she had experienced, that’s not to say that his other kisses didn’t drive her wild. But this one was different. This one was full of love, caring, and unspoken words. As the kiss ended, it left them breathless, but in a different sort of way. 

Josh spoke first, “What was it that you wanted to finish telling me before I kissed you senseless?” he said with a grin.

“That I love you Josh Groban.” she said with a huge smile on her face and a yawn. They both laughed.

Those words sent his heart soaring as he smiled at her once more and she at him. 

“I have a confession to make as well: I love you too Rebecca Graham” His smile was as big as she had ever seen. 

The young woman’s heart beat faster as she heard him say those words. It had been a long time since anyone other than her family and close friends had said it to her. 

The much in love couple continued to hold each other, in spite of the fact that they were yawning and refused to give into sleep. They were both stubborn like that. 

At one point, Rebecca looked at her watch and said, “Josh, guess what time it is?” 

“Umm, 1:00a.m.?” he said.

“Close, it’s 12:30a.m. Can you believe we’ve been talking for this long? No wonder we’re so tired! If I stay here any longer I’ll fall asleep.” she said.

“I’m getting…” Josh was cut off with yet another yawn.

He laughed and continued, “Tired too. Let’s head off to bed.”

They agreed and got up from each other’s arms, folded up the blanket and made sure to bring the guitar with them. They got to Josh’s bed room and each got ready for bed. 

As Josh held her close, she said, “I love you, could you please sing me to sleep?”

“Sure thing.” he said.  
He began to sing. 

“Like the sound of silence calling,  
I hear your voice and suddenly  
I'm falling, lost in a dream.  
Like the echoes of our souls are meeting,  
You say those words and my heart stops beating.  
I wonder what it means.  
What could it be that comes over me?  
At times I can't move.  
At times I can hardly breathe.

When you say you love me,  
The world goes still, so still and silent.  
When you say you love me,  
For a moment, there's no one else alive…

…When you say you love me.  
When you say you love me.  
Do you know how I love you?”

Rebecca fell asleep to Josh singing to her. 

“I love you so much Rebecca” he said as he held her closer and soon he too was asleep with a smile on his face.


	12. Chapter 12

Time passed quickly and soon Rebecca found herself in Toronto, ON with Josh and his band and crew at the Air Canada Centre. Josh had a long standing and strong relationship with his Canadian Grobanites. 

Josh, along with three other leading international artists: Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan and Jann Arden and special guest Ryan Dan would be performing at One Night Live, a fundraiser for Sunnybrook Health Services Centre. 

Rebecca was always interested in the charities that Josh had supported through out his years of touring. But this particular charity held a special place in her heart and for good reason. 

The concert that would be given would benefit the construction of two new floors at Sunnybrook, one floor for births, and high risk pregnancies and the other floor for critically ill newborns. 

The night of the concert came and Rebecca was nervous, but very excited! Before the concert had begun, she had been in contact with the main man in charge of heading up the concert, a man named Bill. Bill came on stage and welcomed everyone for coming. He explained what the Sunnybrook facility was and said that he had someone he’d like to invite on stage to share her story. He motioned for Rebecca to come on stage from stage left. 

Josh meanwhile, waited on stage right as he watched Bill speak, wondering who was coming on stage. He was shocked and surprised to see Rebecca walk on stage. 

‘Why did he invite her on stage?’ he thought. ‘I can’t wait to hear what she says!’ He thought excitedly. 

Rebecca hated public speaking with a passion, but she knew that this was important to do. She walked out on stage wearing a pair of women’s low rise cargo pants from Old Navy which were a light tan color, brown tennis shoes, and a coral colored button down front shirt from Old Navy. She thanked Bill, gave him a nod and took a deep breath. She also wore an ear piece which allowed her to hear the entire goings on from Josh and his band. Around her neck was a lanyard with a photo of Josh which identified her as part of Josh’s crew. 

“Thank you Bill for allowing me to come here tonight to share my story” she began.

‘Oooo a story! I love stories!’ Josh thought as he watched her. After all he was a little kid at heart!

“It’s an honor for me to be here tonight, in the company of great artists as well as the wonderful and amazing people who run the Sunnybrook Centre. As you can probably tell from my accent, I’m not from Canada (laughter). But there is one thing that I have in common with every mother, and father and child at Sunnybrook Centre. Like their children, I was high-risk or premature. In fact, at birth I weighed 1 lb. 3 oz.’s at just 24 weeks at my birth. To make a long story short, through out my life I’ve had various medical issues, the most prevalent one being my need for glasses since I was three months old. I am forever indebted to those doctors and nurses who took care of me while in the NICU or neo-natal intensive care unit. Without them, I wouldn’t be alive today. My parents stayed by my side day and night, as have many of these parents, hoping, and praying for their children. In closing, my story is just one of the many that people are willing to share of their experience at Sunnybrook. Please consider donating money to this wonderful facility so that it can keep on helping premature babies. Thank you.”

She smiled to the audience, waved and walked off stage. Instead of walking back to her original place, she walked towards Josh. 

Josh couldn’t believe what he had just heard! He was floored to say the least! Josh saw Rebecca and he had a look of disbelief but he was also proud of her. He walked up to her and gave her a big hug.

“Baby, I can’t believe you did that! I know how much you hate public speaking, but I’m so proud of you! I had no idea about any of that stuff.” he told her, he said with a sound of disappointment in his voice. 

“Thanks Josh, that means a lot coming from you. Yeah, I hate public speaking too, but sometimes you’ve got to face your fears, right?” she replied with a smile.

Rebecca could sense that something was bothering him.

She sighed and began to speak. “As for me not telling you, it’s not something that I go around telling to the world. Not that I’m ashamed of it, quite the opposite! I feel very blessed to be alive each and every day. And I thank God every day for my life and letting me live and breath. You understand where I’m coming from right?” she asked.

He smiled at her and said, “Yes honey, I completely understand. Don’t feel bad about it, okay?” he said as he gave her a hug and a kiss on the top of her head as he held her. 

Josh could tell she still felt guilty about it because she was so quiet. “Rebecca, look at me.” he said.

She stared at the ground, quietly. Josh stepped out of their embrace so that she was standing in front of him. Holding her left hand, he used his right hand to take hold of her chin and move it upward so that their eyes met. He could see all of the emotion in her eyes and it hurt his heart to see her feeling this way. The singer could see the tears running down her face. 

“Rebecca, honey, listen to me. You have nothing to feel guilty about at all. I’m not mad at you. I promise you that. I understand why you did what you did and I’m so proud of you for doing it. It takes a lot of guts to do what you did up there! You should be very proud of yourself for not only doing the whole public speaking thing, but also for sharing a deep and personal part of who you are! I don’t think I could’ve done that! Do you know how much more this makes me love you? A whole lot more!” he said with a big smile on his face. He inwardly fought the urge to kiss her senseless at that moment. 

“Now dry those tears, honey.” he continued on as he gently wiped away her tears.

“Josh, that’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever had anyone say to me. Thank you for being proud of me. I was happy to have shared it with you and I’m glad that it makes me love you more. Thank you for having faith in me for doing this. God, I love you so much!” she said with a big smile, one that melted his heart and made it not hurt anymore.

As if reading his mind, Rebecca wrapped her arms around his neck and he around her waist and they kissed passionately. It was a kiss full of love, trust, and pride for what she had done, courage, and reassurance. Pulling back, they smiled at one another with their foreheads touching. It was so much of a make out session, as much as a loving kiss between a deeply in love couple. 

“As much as I’d love to continue this, I’ve got to go on in 15 minutes.” he said to her. 

Rebecca sighed. “I know I’ve got to get ready too. I know you’ll do great and I’ll be there to capture every moment.” she replied with a bright smile. 

“Now get going, before we both do something we shouldn’t” she said with a wicked and mischievous grin. 

He loved to see her get in a trouble making kind of mood; it was one of the things that turned him on about her. 

“You sassy minx, you!” Josh replied with a sexy grin of his own, one that got her every time.

It was true; she was immune to his sexy charm. “Damn you, honey for being so dang sexy!” she said with a short kiss on his lips.

“No one can resist me!” Josh said in a mock superhero voice as he stood in a fake Superman pose. 

“Don’t get so big headed Josh” she told him as she stuck her tongue out at him to which he did the same back. 

“Now you’d better get going before we’re both late!” she said with a playful swat on his arm.

Josh playfully swatted her back on the arm and gave her one last short kiss on the lips and then he was off.

Minutes later, Bill introduced Josh and his band to which Josh came out on stage to a cheering crowd, full of a lot of Grobanites and other audience members. Josh wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a black belt, black shoes, and a black button down dress shirt. Josh started by thanking Bill for the opportunity to be there tonight. The singer then launched into his songs: You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up), Solo Por Ti, So She Dances, Now or Never, Broken Vow, Let Me Fall, You’re Still You, Home To Stay, Vincent, Gira con Me, Alla Luce del Sole, The Prayer, Mi Morena, Smile, Awake, and for an encore: You Raise Me Up, Lullaby, Never Let Go and My Confession. 

Rebecca got amazing photographs on her camera. Josh performed beautifully, singing with such passion and joy! She could hear it in every note he sang and in every smile he gave to the audience. The young woman felt very blessed to be doing what she loved at this exact moment, there was nothing she loved more. 

Josh’s part of the concert ended and he came off stage, haired soaking wet with sweat and his body too. He smiled a big smile at her and walked towards her like he was going to give her a hug. Seeing the glint in his eyes, she tossed him a towel she had at hand and said, “Clean up first, and then let’s go enjoy the rest of the concert.” Still smiling, the singer dried off his sweaty head and then went and showered. He came back wearing a light blue button down dress shirt and a different pair of dark blue jeans, loose, but comfortably fitting. He also wore his glasses. He smelled of Dial soap and Pert Plus shampoo. 

Together they went and enjoyed the rest of the concert. After the concert ended, Josh signed lots and lots of autographs and took pictures with his fans. He even got the chance to meet some of the families who had had children born at Sunnybrook Centre. He was touched deeply by their stories and promised to do all that he could to continue to advocate for this cause. After this the couple went back to their hotel room and watched TV and talked and ate room serviced dinner. It was a night neither of them would soon forget.


	13. Chapter 13

Note: Go here to listen to the song, “You’re Not Alone Tonight” Written and sung by Keith Urban: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1sTlI_ETM this is important to the chapter. This song is off his “Golden Road” CD. 

For the next few days, Josh and Rebecca explored Toronto; they both had a really fun time. Things between them were going well, but Josh noticed that something was off about how Rebecca was acting and it bothered him. Despite the nagging feeling he had in the back of his mind, Josh told her he a surprise for her that would take place that night at a fancy restaurant. Knowing that they didn’t have another tour date until May 12th, they had some time to R&R. 

Their last night they went to a wonderful restaurant, Josh wore a pair of dark wash blue jeans, brown dress shoes and a black turtle neck sweater which fit him nicely. The young man looked very handsome. He also had with him a black pea coat. Rebecca wore a dark green long sleeve V-neck sweater with a white camisole underneath, with a pair of dark wash curvy boot cut jeans and to complete the outfit she wore a pair of sexy black stiletto shoes. She wore a grey pea coat. 

As they ate dinner in relative silence, Josh could tell that something was amiss. Usually they had lively dinner conversations, talking about everything under the sun.

“You’re quiet tonight honey, what’s wrong?” he asked her as he took a sip of his red wine.

Rebecca wasn’t very hungry at all, but she made herself eat, if only to make Josh happy that he had done all of this for her. She stayed quiet, not looking up at him.

When she finally looked up at him, her voice sounded tired, sad, and homesick. 

“I’m sorry Josh for not being happier about this. I really do love this!” she said as she forced a smile.

“I’m just…” she started to trail off.

“Just what Rebecca? You know you can tell me anything.” he asked his voice filled with concern and his heart aching that she was feeling the way she was.

She sighed inwardly, wondering why this was hard for her to say. It’s not like she had done anything wrong and should be ashamed of it.

“I’m just tired.” she said.

Josh could tell that it was more than just that as he said, “I can tell there’s something else. What is it?” unease filling his voice.

“And depressed and angry.” she continued. By now her voice was shaking and tears were gathering in her eyes. 

“Angry? At me?” he questioned.

“No, not you. At how messed up my life at home is.” she whispered at tears fell from her eyes. 

Josh felt his heart break at the sight of her tears. He hated seeing her hurting like this! Tears came to his eyes as the brown eyed man looked at this woman in front of him. He mentally kicked himself for not seeing how she was acting earlier and thinking that this would be a good way to end their time in Toronto. How foolish could he have been?! 

“Look, can we not talk about this? This isn’t the time or place. I’m sorry that I ruined this night and dinner.” she went on to say as she pushed the food around on her plate. She was angry at herself for acting this way, for so many things. 

“Don’t worry about it honey. How about we just head on back to the hotel, okay?” he asked. 

Rebecca replied, “Okay.” 

Josh quickly paid for the meal and then spoke softly, “Ready to go?” he asked. 

“Yeah” she said in a low voice. 

They gathered their coats, and made their way back to their hotel room. Unease and tension filled the air as they sat in their hotel room. 

Josh was the first to speak, “Let’s get changed and then you can tell me what’s bothering you, okay?” he asked her. 

She nodded her head. Soon they were both dressed in more comfortable clothes, Josh in jeans, socks, tennis shoes and a grey hoodie and Rebecca in jeans, socks, tennis shoes and a navy blue hoodie. 

They both sat down on the couch near where the TV was. Neither of them said anything for a while. Josh knew she would talk when she was ready. 

Rebecca broke the silence with her sniffling. Josh put his arm around her and held her close to him. She looked at him with tears running down her face. 

“Baby, what’s wrong? What’s making you cry like this?” he asked his voice full of emotion. Josh could feel himself starting to tear up. 

“I’m crying because I’m depressed and mad over all of the stuff that I’m dealing with at home. It’s so very stressful, dealing with my brother’s issues, having everyone on edge, snapping at each other, getting into arguments and yelling. I hate it!” she said getting angrier just thinking about the difficult situation back home. She got up from the couch and started pacing the room. 

“I love him, God knows I do, but I hate, hate what he’s done to my family! I loathe the fact that my parents worry about him every day. I can’t stand that this past Christmas we couldn’t go over to my sister and her husband’s house because her husband didn’t want to be around my brother. Hell, I can’t even remember last time I actually had a ‘normal’ Christmas! I’m sad and disappointed that he stole things from us, again and went and got high. I hate that I had to go to therapy for all of the shit he’s put me and my family through. I hate that he’s completely ruined my trust of people in general, especially in men. I hate how this has changed me and hurt me so much!” she yelled as she frantically continued to pace the room. 

Still seething but saying nothing, the silence was broken as the young woman hauled off and punched the near by wall with her right fist, leaving a pretty good sized hole in the wall. Not caring that her hand hurt nor that she had damaged property, she continued to pace. 

Josh watched all of this, in a state of shock, saying nothing. The young man had never seen her go off like this before. Sure, in the past they’d had their arguments and he had seen her upset or annoyed, but never ever like this. He sat on the edge of the seat, head bowed. 

The brown haired man was brought out of his shocked state, by the sound of her fist hitting the wall. His head flew up at that sound as he gasped. She stopped in mid stride, seeing the look on his face and the tears that flowed freely down his cheeks.   
He could see that she too was crying now, tears of hurt and depression and anger flowing freely from her beautiful eyes. Josh could sense that she wanted to run, to get away from all of this.

“Josh, look I’m really sorry for punching the wall and for all of this stuff I’ve shared with you. I should have said anything.” She sighed. “I need to get out and go for a walk, to clear my head.” 

Not fighting the urge to run, she quickly ran for the door, doing her best to open it with a hurt hand. But Josh was quicker and he quickly shut the door and locked the door. Then he wrapped his arms around her and held her close as she cried and cried into his arms, soaking his hoodie with her tears. 

Eventually she stopped crying and Josh picked her up and carried her over to the bed. He looked down at her and smiled, she smiled weakly back up at him. After he laid her down on the bed, he went over to his luggage and rummaged through it for a few moments.

“There’s something you need to listen to, I think it’ll help” he said. 

He smiled as he found his IPod and portable IPod speaker system. Quickly hooking it up, he turned it on and selected the song. Then he walked back over to where she laid and laid down next to her. 

He whispered to her, “I hope that this song will help you to heal some and know baby that we’ll get through this, okay? I’m here for you; I’ll always be here for you. I have faith in you and I know that your own faith is very strong. I love you” he said as he placed a kiss on her temple. 

“I love you too” she whispered back. 

They lay together and listened to the song play.   
“We all drink to forget  
Some of us more than most  
When reality gets too real  
And the fires of hell too close  
But I'm here to let you know that  
You can make it through  
If you believe that someone's watchin' over you  
(Chorus)  
Call it an angel  
Call it a muse  
And call it karma that yo've got comin' to you  
What's the difference  
What's it in a name  
What matters most is never ever losin' faith  
'Cause it's gonna be alright  
You're not alone tonight  
We all have our days  
When nothing goes as planned  
Not a soul in the world  
Seems to understand   
And for someone to talk to  
You'd give anything  
Well go on and cry out loud  
'Cause someone's listenin'  
(Chorus)  
Keep your faith alive  
You're not the only one  
(Chorus)  
Oh you can cry if you want to, go on”

The song ended and he looked down to see that she had fallen asleep. He quietly slipped off the bed and shut down the IPod. Then he turned off the lights, pulled her close, slipped the bed covers over top of them both and closed his eyes. The last thing he did before he drifted off to sleep was to say a prayer for her and for them both.


	14. Chapter 14

Josh woke with a plan in his mind that next morning. He called his manager informing him that he and Rebecca would be taking a holiday for the next few months, as it was mostly for Rebecca’s benefit. Josh didn’t give his manager any major details; instead the young singer told him that she had been quite stressed out lately and needed some time to relax. His manager understood and gave him the requested time off, knowing that Josh’s relationship with Rebecca was important.   
Next he called and cancelled their flight back to LA then he called his parents letting them know of the situation. The singer was happy that his parents were so understanding. He was nervous to make the next phone call, but he smiled as he heard Rebecca’s parents voices on the phone.   
Josh explained the situation in detail this time and asked them if they would allow Rebecca to go with Josh on holiday for a few months. They agreed on one condition, if Rebecca came back home and spent a week with them, she could go. Josh agreed with them whole heartedly and told them he’d call and them know of the flight schedule.   
He smiled as he ended the last phone call; he just hoped that his plan worked. Lastly, he sneaked over to her bedside and turned off the alarm on her phone. Then the tired singer, quietly slipped back into bed, closed his eyes and slept as he held the woman he loved.   
Rebecca who was a light sleeper opened her eyes a few hours later and groggily looked at the clock on her cell phone, noticing the late hour she jumped out of bed and raced to get ready for the flight which they had in a few hours back to LA. Still half asleep, she wondered if she’d forgotten to set the alarm on her phone.   
After she was dressed, and had packed up her luggage, she saw that Josh was still snoring away. Frantic as to why he wasn’t up, she shook him.  
“Wake up Josh, we need to get going. We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up.” she said.   
Josh mumbled something unintelligible, rolled over onto his back, sighed contently and slipped back into dreamland.   
Rebecca shook him harder this time and said in a more stern voice, “Josh, c’mon get up. You don’t want me to call your mom to yell at you to get up do you?” she threatened.   
She got no response from the sleeping man. The tired, frantic woman said, “Alright Josh this is your last chance, if you don’t get up, you’ll be getting an ice bath.” Still getting no response, she grew more annoyed.   
Getting very frustrated with her boyfriend, she sighed and went into the bathroom.   
Instead of the warmth of the bed sheets and covers, the next sensation Josh felt was the splash of ice cold water hitting his face. He sat up quickly, sputtering, and cursing loudly.   
Rebecca just stood there holding an empty cup and wearing an angry expression on her face.  
Josh with his face and hair quite wet, he glared at her and said, “What the hell was that for?”   
“That was for not getting up when I asked you too more than 15 minutes ago.” she replied in an angry voice. With that she turned and walked away and went over to the couch to watch TV.   
Before she sat down, she turned and called to him, “Oh and honey, you’d better hurry up and get ready, our flight back to LA leaves in a few hours and we need to get to the airport soon to go through security and all that.”  
Josh sat there, hair and face still wet, in a state of shock over what had transpired. Never had he been woken up by having water thrown on his face. ‘There’s a first time for everything!’ he thought with a smile on his face. The wet haired man started laughing at the hilarity of the situation.  
Meanwhile, Rebecca was watching TV, hoping that Josh was getting ready. Instead of hearing Josh running around getting ready to head off to the airport, after all he was a big boy and he didn’t need help in packing his things, she heard the sound of laughter.   
Angrily the very tired and stressed out woman, shut off the TV, got up from the couch and went to where she heard the laughter coming from.  
Standing in front of him wearing the same hoodie and jeans from the night before and her hair messily combed and under a baseball cap she yelled, “What the HELL Josh?!” quickly putting an end to his laughter.   
The smile that was on Josh’s face quickly fell away as he looked at her. Her eyes were filled with anger, stress and annoyance. Everything about her, from her eyes to her body language screamed that she was mad at him. He guilty averted his eyes from hers and looked down at the bed sheet.   
“Do you think this is funny Josh? That’s it’s all a joke? That we’re running around like crazy trying to get ready to head to the airport to head back to LA! You knew that it would take it quite some time to get ready and go! Why the hell can’t you just do what you’re told for once?! Geez, I swear it’s like I’m babysitting you sometimes!” she yelled at him crossly.   
She sighed in annoyance and continued her rant, “Josh this shit LAST thing that I need, especially from you! I thought you could be more responsible than this! You know how freaking stressed out I already am! Damn!”   
All of the stress and anxiety from the previous night’s events and now this morning, caught up with the young woman and she began to cry. She eventually sat down on the floor and cried and rocked herself in self-comforting gesture.   
Josh sat on his bed, feeling very guilt ridden at hearing his girlfriend cry and knowing that he had caused it. He kicked himself mentally for thinking that she would find this situation funny. Sighing to himself, he got out of bed and quietly walked over to her, as not to startle her. Each cry and sniffle she produced, made him feel worse and worse.   
Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her. At first, she started to pull away, resisting his embrace. The blameworthy young man felt his heart break as she pulled away, he didn’t blame her for how she acted or felt. The brown haired man dared not say anything as to upset her even more. Slowly she accepted his embrace and he held her. So there he was on his hotel room floor, holding Rebecca as she cried and rocked herself.   
Several minutes passed and Rebecca soon stopped crying. She felt two strong arms around her and she smiled slightly. She unwrapped his arms from around her and moved out from his embrace and started to get up. It was that movement that startled Josh into waking up. Who knew that holding someone while they cried could put a man to sleep?   
Josh opened his eyes and looked at the woman in front of him, tear stains marking her face.   
“Josh, I’m so sorry for yelling at you like that. I didn’t mean any of that. I’m just really stressed out because of last night and this morning.” she said her voice still thick with emotion.  
“No Rebecca it’s me who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed at the situation, or turned off your alarm on your phone.” he said as he averted his eyes from hers.   
She just glared at him more. “I knew that I’d set my alarm.” she said in a frustrated tone.   
Josh continued to avert his eyes and feel bad at what he had done. Uncomfortable silence followed for several minutes.   
Rebecca sighed, looked at her watch and said, “Well now we’re really screwed because we’ve missed our flight! How much more screwed up can this day get?” she wondered aloud.   
Josh said, “Baby, that’s my fault too and I’m sorry. I called and cancelled our flight early this morning.” he told her guiltily.   
She just glared at him. No words needed to be said as her eyes said everything: you jerk! Josh didn’t need to look at her to know what she was thinking.   
He sighed and said, “Honey, I’m really really sorry for all of this, the laughing, turning off your phone, cancelling the flight…I was just trying to help you relax. I know that you’ve been really stressed out with everything and I wanted to help you. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. So baby, can you forgive me?” he said with remorse and a hopeful tone.   
Deciding that he had been feeling bad long enough, she smiled at him and said, “Yes Josh, I forgive you. Just don’t do that again, okay? I’m sorry and I love you.” Tears ran down her face once more as she smiled at him. They were tears of forgiveness and joy. She knew he understood her completely.   
Josh felt his heart swell with joy as he heard her say those words. Tears came to his eyes as he sat there and looked at her. He felt at peace and that everything was alright in his world with her by his side.   
She continued to look at him and soon she was the one holding him close. He closed his eyes and let the tears fall, no words needed to be said between them to convey how they were feeling.   
“I love you too” he said as he continued to be held by her.   
Silence followed and it was more of a comforting, loving silence than anything else. Then, in that moment, they had each other and that was all that mattered.   
Josh had never felt so loved in that moment as when she held him. It was the best feeling in the world.   
Rebecca broke the silence between them and said with a yawn, “So Josh, where are we going on holiday?” she questioned trying to fight back a yawn.  
Josh laughed and said, “Where ever your heart desires” he said with a smile, knowing how cheesy that line sounded.  
“Babe isn’t that from a Disney movie or something?” she joked as he poked him in the stomach.   
“I think so” he said with a playful grin.   
He playfully poked her back and soon he began tickling her. Squeals of laugher and joy filled the room as he continued to tickle her and she even tickled him back, making him laugh. His laughter, to her was the best sound in the world. Several minutes later, Rebecca lay in Josh’s arms recovering from the tickle attack he’d given her.   
After several minutes of resting, Josh shifted positions so that he could pick her up. The man looked at her and saw that she was sleeping peacefully and it made him smile. The brown haired man picked her up from the floor and once again he walked her over to the bed, laid her down and together they fell into a deep sleep. They were both mentally and emotionally tired.   
Hours later, Josh woke up holding Rebecca. The young man yawned and looked at her, in spite of all of the stuff they’d gone through in the last hours and days; he loved her all for it and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.   
He wondered as he lay there memorizing every inch of her, how he got so blessed to have her in his life. Having her by his side, gave him strength each and every day. He was always discovering new ways of how she amazed him with her inner strength, courage, determination, fierceness and both inner and outer beauty.   
The singer thought back on all of the events in her life she had told him about and he was amazed at her resilience in facing all of the hardship she had endured and how she came out stronger on the other side. Josh thought back on his own life, how blessed he had been to have been discovered by David Foster, to travel the world and meet all different kinds of people, to sing with his idols: Neil Young, Paul Simon, and others. The reminiscing man also thought back on his personal life and how blessed he was to have such a strong relationship with his family; he knew that the same was true for the woman beside him.   
It was this strong relationship with his family that helped him get through his breakup with his ex-girlfriend January. He had learned a lot from that relationship and hoped that wherever she was, she was happy, just as he was. In fact, he had never been happier in his life, Rebecca made him smile and laugh when he had had long and tiring days, and he was a better person because she had come into his life. Rebecca gave Josh’s life meaning and she comforted him when he was stressed out. She was his rock.   
The brown eyed man lay there next to the love of his life, watching her sleep. As Josh lay there next to her, he began to sing softly.   
“A beautiful and blinding morning  
The world outside begins to breathe  
See the clouds arriving without warning  
I need you here to shelter me 

And I know that only time will tell us how  
To carry on without each other 

So keep me awake to memorize you  
Give me more time to feel this way  
We can't stay like this forever   
But I can have you next to me today 

If I could make these moments endless  
If I could stop the winds of change   
If we just keep our eyes wide open  
Then everything would stay the same 

And I know that only time will tell me how  
We'll carry on without each other 

So keep me awake for every moment  
Give us more time to be this way  
We can't stay like this forever  
But I can have you next to me today 

We'll let tomorrow wait, you're here, right now, with me  
All my fears just fall away, when you are all I see 

We can't stay like this forever  
But I have you here today 

And I will remember  
Oh, I will remember  
Remember all the love we shared today”  
He thought that the lyrics fit their relationship, they sheltered and comforted one another through difficult times and they took each day as it came to them, not wanting to waste a moment to spend with each other. They gave each other strength and love. They were each willing to take their relationship slow and because of that they had built it on trust, friendship, honesty, faith in each other and in God, and loyalty. Their love knew no bounds.   
Josh knew that it was one of her favorite songs and so just for her, he sang it again. How often was it that Josh ever sang while lying next to a beautiful girl? Not often and he was happy to oblige her.   
Rebecca stirred as she heard him singing and she smiled as she opened her eyes.   
“Hey” she said as she looked up at him.   
“Hey yourself” he said with a smile back at her.  
“That is the best way to wake up.” she told him.  
“What is?” he asked.  
“With you holding me and singing.” she told him as she snuggled into his arms.  
“Did you sleep well?” he asked.  
“Better than I have in a very long time.” she answered him.  
Not forgetting about their holiday, her eyes lit up as she asked him, “so where are we going?”  
He knew exactly what she meant and he answered her, “We’ll go wherever you want to.”  
She sensed that he was hesitating.  
“But there’s a catch. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go on holiday, but you have to go home and spend some time with your family.” he replied.  
She averted her eyes from his and said softly, “You called them didn’t you?” He could tell she was embarrassed and ashamed.  
“Of course I did Rebecca. I wanted to make sure it was okay that you go with me. I couldn’t and wouldn’t lie to them about why we were going on holiday, so I told them what happened and naturally they were and are concerned about you. You’re their daughter and they love you and want to make sure that you’re okay, that’s all baby.” he said as he gently stroked her cheek.  
Rebecca looked back up at Josh with tears in her eyes.  
“I’m not crying because I’m sad, but because I’m so grateful that you’re so caring and considerate to call up my parents, ask their permission to take me on holiday, but also to tell them about how I’m doing. I’ve never had anyone do that for me before and you’ve made me so happy and I feel so blessed to have you in my life.” she told him with a smile.  
Josh happily wiped away her tears with a smile.   
The silence between them was comfortable and they lay in each other’s arms quietly. However, the silence was broken by the growling of both their stomachs and they laughed.  
“I guess that means we should eat something.” he told her as he kissed the top of her head.  
“What do you want to do for food? Do you want to go out or stay in?” he asked.  
“I’m in the mood to stay in and watch some movies, how’s that sound?” she asked him.  
“That sounds perfect” he said with a smile.  
“I’ll get the food, you pick the movies. We’ll discuss where we’ll go on holiday too.” he told her.  
“You got it!” she said with a smile.  
Some time later, the food was gone and once again they were lying in bed together. This time, they were watching movies they had ordered from the TV’s movie channels like “Lady and the Tramp”, “Finding Nemo”, “The Bourne Identity”, “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum”   
In the midst of watching all of these movies, they discussed where they wanted to go on holiday. Rebecca suggested Hawaii and Scotland and Josh suggested Ireland and the Bahamas.   
Josh said to her, “Go ahead and choose two destinations for holiday.”   
She was quiet for a few moments and then she said with a smile, “Let’s head off to Scotland and then Hawaii. Sound good to you Josh?”  
“That sounds perfect!” he replied back to her as he leaned over and kissed her sweetly.  
Josh grabbed his phone and happily called and made flight reservations for the following week. Then Rebecca called her parents and let them know that she was coming home for a week, which they were happy to hear. Josh also then called and made flight arraignments for the both of them for the next day. They were both excited to get home and see their families.  
For the next week, Rebecca spent some quality time with her family, reconnecting with them, which was really nice. She told them about her time in Toronto, even the really difficult parts of getting angry and punching a wall. The young woman broke down and cried a few times talking about how she felt. It was quite therapeutic and comforting to know that her parents and family was there to help her through this situation.   
Josh too, was enjoying spending time with his family, and playing with Sweeney. He spent the week enjoying time with his family, telling them about all the wonderful things he did and saw while in Toronto with Rebecca. Of course they already knew about what had happened with Rebecca, but to respect her privacy, he didn’t go into detail; he just told them that she was really stressed out and needed to go on holiday.   
By the week’s end, both Josh and Rebecca were eagerly excited to go on holiday. Josh flew out to BWI (Baltimore Washington International) airport to meet Rebecca on the day of their holiday.   
He smiled as soon as he saw her, she looked well rested and at peace with herself. She was scanning the crowd looking for him and smiled brightly when their eyes met.   
The brown eyed man couldn’t wait to spend a very long holiday with the woman he loved! He saw she wore a pair of jeans with a brown hoodie and blue and white tennis shoes. Her luggage was beside her. She smiled brightly as she saw Josh.   
“Hey honey. You ready for Scotland?” he asked her with a hug and a sweet but passionate kiss.  
“Hello to you too! Someone’s missed me!” she laughed, smiled and hugged him back and took in his appearance; he wore a pair of blue jeans, his Cons and a white t-shirt with a black zip up hoodie over top and a baseball cap to hide himself from fans and the media.   
‘Even when he’s wearing jeans and a hoodie, he’s still so sexy! Not to mention the baseball cap look. Yum!’ She thought to herself.  
Josh knew that look in her eyes and knew what she was thinking. He grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close, so close that there was no space between them. He lean down and kissed her the way she had kissed him. Minutes later, they pulled back and Rebecca moaned softly as Josh licked and nipped at her earlobe, he knew she loved that.  
“Babe, as much as I’d love to continue this. I don’t want to get into trouble.” she said, her eyes filled with lust.  
Josh sighed and said, “I know what you mean honey. We can continue this later.” he said with an evil grin on his face. His dark brown eyes were filled with desire.   
She laughed and reluctantly they separated and after checking in their luggage and getting their boarding passes and tickets, the young couple flew out of BWI and caught a connecting flight from New York City’s airport to Scotland on Continental Airlines.  
As they got settled into their seats, Rebecca said, “Josh did I ever tell you that I’m part Scottish?” she asked him as they started down the runway.   
“Is that so? So that explains the reason for wanting to visit, I see.” Josh said with a grin.  
They talked about nothing and everything, and watched movies, and ate food. They even played online poker on Josh’s laptop. At one point, Rebecca fell asleep with her glasses awry and her head against the headrest. Josh thought it was adorkable so he quietly took out his digital camera and snapped a quick picture. Rebecca stirred only to turn her head over to have it now lean against his. There wasn’t a more wonderful sight in the world as he watched her sleep.  
‘You have no idea what you do to me. I’m so lucky to have you in my life! I love you so much Plus you look so pretty lying here next to me!’ He thought as he smiled and took off her glasses, as well as his own, put them some place safe, leaned his head against hers and slept.   
12 ½ hours later, they touched down in the city of Glasgow, Scotland.   
In secret, after Josh had booked their flight, he had also booked their entire trip: where they’d stay, and what they’d do and see. He couldn’t wait to surprise her! They got their luggage and got into a taxi and were on their way. The headed towards Glasgow West End to Kelvinston Property. They soon arrived, paid the fare and were soon inside their new flat.   
“This place is beautiful!” Rebecca said with glee as she quickly put down her luggage and ran and checked out the flat.   
Josh just laughed and shook his head at her little kid antics and carried both his and her luggage from the foyer/entrance hall into the living room/lounge area.   
Their flat was furnished with a modern look. The entrance hall had off white colored walls and ceiling with white crown molding, a stained glass door and dark brown hard wood flooring.   
The living room/lounge area had an L-shaped black leather couch, LCD TV complete with a huge selection of DVD’s, and a laptop with a Wi-Fi connection.   
Josh heard Rebecca run upstairs and squeal with delight as she had found the bedroom. The bedroom had a large double bed; the walls were a dark red, almost maroon color with white crown molding and a white ceiling. On each side of the bed, there was an end table with a lamp. The lighting in the bedroom was low, as to create an intimate feel for the room. She blushed as she thought of all of the things they could and hopefully would do while in this room. Shaking her head and smiling, Rebecca then went into the bathroom to see that it had black tiled floors, and white tiled walls, with a full bathtub, separate shower and modern looking sink.   
While Rebecca was checking out the upstairs, Josh headed on over to the kitchen. The kitchen had black floor tiles, white cabinets and black granite counter tops. It was fully stocked with a freezer and refrigerator and microwave as well as the other essentials: pots, pans, stove, oven, plates, cup etc. Josh then left the kitchen and found his way to where the washer and dryer were held.   
Afterward, he made his way back to the lounge area and that was where he found Rebecca sitting on the couch with a big smile on her face as she looked out to the botanical garden outside their flat.   
“Why are you smiling, honey?” he asked as he sat down next to her and looked out the big bay window that overlooked the garden.   
“Because I never thought I’d ever get the chance to come here, much less come here with someone I love so very much.” she told him as she turned and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
The couple sat together admiring the beautiful garden outside and Rebecca soon found herself falling asleep leaning against Josh. The man yawned, jet lag and the excitement of the day finally catching up with him and he nudged her arm.  
“As much as I’d love to continue to have you sit here and lean against me, I’m getting really tired and that bed upstairs is looking really inviting.” he said with a grin.  
Sleepily, she mumbled, “Okay.”  
Josh then stood up, took her hand and led her upstairs and into the bedroom where they fell asleep holding each other in the big, comfortable soft bed.   
A few hours later, they awoke rested but very hungry. They freshened up and made their way out to the car where they drove to a local restaurant for dinner. After the meal, they came back and continued what they started at the airport, which turned into a hot and steamy make out session. The couple fell asleep in each other’s arms.   
During their stay, Rebecca and Josh made their way throughout Scotland. Together they visited the cities of Aberdeen, Edinburg, and Glasgow. In Aberdeen, they went to an art gallery, a maritime museum, a nature reserve, and an indoor garden. They ate at a variety of restaurants, with food ranging from traditional Scottish food to French food to anything in between. The couple also took in the theater and some live music, which Josh fell in love with! Josh especially loved the live music venue which also had dance and theater companies which performed nightly. They took pictures of everything! It was a good thing they had brought extra memory disks for their digital cameras!   
In the town of Edinburg, they hit a local fudge store and ate way too many sweets! They also went to a local science center, cathedrals, zoos, and gardens. In Edinburg, they frequented a few pubs and bars, and café’s. Josh and Rebecca took in some classical music by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra which they both fell in love with. There was something so beautiful and romantic about classical music to which they were captured by.   
In the beautiful town of Glasgow, they took in a fossil grove, distillery, and even a game of football (soccer). That was quite the experience for the both of them, something they enjoyed immensely. The much in love couple ate at a local tea room, a bistro and other restaurants. They also went to the opera, and several nightclubs.   
After they toured these cities, they also enjoyed visiting different famous places such as Windsor Castle, Borthwick Castle, Fenton Tower, Barony Castle, Dundas Castle, Buckingham Palace, and Kensington Palace.   
Rebecca thanked Josh a million times over for such a wonderful holiday. He was more than happy to go with her as she visited all of these different places. It made his heart burst with joy as he saw how relaxed and happy she was. He could see her mind soaking up all the information they had learned like a sponge and her excitement as they talked nightly as they lay in bed about what they had learned and seen that day. It was times like those that he cherished most in his heart.   
At the end of their holiday, he had one last surprise for her. The last night before they left, they went to a local fancy restaurant for dinner. Instead of a diamond necklace or something that fancy, he decided to give Rebecca something more sentimental. Rebecca could sense that he was nervous, the way he was fidgeting in his chair. It made her laugh to see him like that.   
At one point during dinner, he took a sip of his wine, looked her in the eyes and said, “Honey, I got you a gift. Now before you say anything else, let me just say it wasn’t expensive but it comes from my heart.” he said with a bright smile as he handed her a box.  
She smiled at him as she opened the box and took out what was inside. “Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful! I really love it!” she said.   
In her hand, she held a thimble with her family crest on it. She had tried unsuccessfully to find, something, anything that held her family crest.   
She leaned over and gave Josh a tender kiss. He could tell she loved it. He was happy that she had something to remember her heritage by.   
“You’re so very welcome babe. I thought that you’d like something like this.” he said as he kissed her back sweetly.   
That night they spent it quietly as their flat, relaxing in each other’s arms, watching movies and drinking wine. It was the perfect way to end their holiday in Scotland.   
The next day, they were soon on a plane back to the States to rest up for a week and then they were headed to Hawaii! Neither Josh nor Rebecca could wait to spent time there.   
While at home with her family, Rebecca called the travel agency and made sure that everything was in place for their arrival. She smiled to herself as she thought that Josh would never know what hit him! As thoroughly as she enjoyed the month long holiday in Scotland, she couldn’t wait to surprise him as much as he surprised her!   
The day soon arrived and Rebecca flew out to meet Josh at LAX airport. Now it was Rebecca’s turn to surprise Josh. She stood there looking for him this time, luggage in hand. She wore a pair of low cut slimming fit khakis, and a shapely dark blue waist length long sleeve polo shirt with tennis shoes.   
She smiled as she saw Josh looking for her. The young woman smiled seductively at him and watched his reaction. The brown haired woman laughed to herself at his reaction as his eyes took in what she was wearing. He too smiled back, with a sexy smile that made her thud.  
‘Two can play at this game.’ Josh thought to himself as he watched her walk towards him with a sexy smile on his face.   
‘Damn, is she trying to kill me?! She looks so good!’ The man thought to himself. Josh could feel himself becoming turned on.  
The woman stood in front of him and without saying a word, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. She heard him moan softly as she kissed him and then she sucked on his bottom lip, she knew that that drove him crazy! With no distance between them, she began to run her fingers through his hair, it was a comforting gesture but at the same time it drove him wild. Rebecca could feel him becoming more turned on as he pressed himself into her. The young woman just grinned.   
He looked into her eyes and said, “If you don’t stop that, I won’t be responsible for my actions.” his eyes were smoldering now.  
“That’s good to know.” she replied as she kissed him sweetly.  
“Are you ready to go then?” she asked him as she unwrapped her arms from around his neck, smiled and gathered her luggage.  
“There’s no place I’d rather be than on an airplane with you, going on holiday to Hawaii.” he said as he picked up his luggage.  
Together they checked their luggage through and got their tickets and boarding passes. Soon they were on the plane to Hawaii.  
As they were flying, Josh looked at her and said, “So, why’d you pick Hawaii?”  
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” she said with a smile.  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right!” he replied back.  
He was quiet for a few moments until he said, “I picked it because to me, it’s one of the most beautiful and romantic places in the world. There’s so much culture and history to learn and do! Plus it’s some place I’ve always wanted to go to and now it’s more special now that you’re here with me.” he said as he took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.  
They talked for a few moments more, but soon they were quiet, lost in their own thoughts, at least Rebecca was. Josh however had fallen asleep with his glasses askew as he leaned his head on her shoulder. He was snoring softly. Sneakily, Rebecca got out her digital camera and quickly snapped a picture. He didn’t stir once, she just laughed to herself. She put the camera away and leaned her head against Josh’s and stared at him.  
‘I really hope that you love this holiday as much as I loved Scotland, Josh. You look so dang cute lying here next to me; glasses all messed up, snoring. God, you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?’ she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and slept.   
5 hours later, they landed in Hawaii.   
Very tired from the excitement and the flight they gathered their luggage and went out to find a car to take them to where they were staying. They found a car that drove them to The Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua which is located in Maui where they stayed in the Residential Ocean Front Suite. They checked in and saw their room, which was huge and beautiful! Their bedroom was in one room and it had beautiful light yellow walls and a white ceiling and a huge, comfortable bed. In the bedroom, there was a marble themed bathroom with separate showers and a deep soaking tub. The next room held the rest of the suite. The walls were a light yellow color and the ceiling was white. There was an LCD TV and couch and coffee table. Underneath the TV was a DVD player too. Nearby was the private kitchen with all the necessities of home. They even had their own private balcony!   
Rebecca smiled as she saw Josh’s reaction to seeing their suit. Josh had his mouth open like a fish. Sure he’d been in hotel rooms at some very nice hotels, but never like this before! Like the little kid that he was, he dropped his stuff and ran around the suite exploring it all, from flopping down on the comfortable bed to looking at the beautiful marble bathroom to going out on the balcony and looking at the view.   
Josh came back in and she looked at him and said, “Do you like it?”  
“Like it? Honey, I love it!” he said as he picked her up and spun her around.  
She just laughed and they gave each other a sweet kiss.   
Moments later Josh put her down and they soon put away their belongings. After this, they both decided it was time for a nap and slept together on the comfortable bed.  
A few hours later, they got up and with their rumbling stomachs, they showered and dressed and went to eat dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. Josh wore a pair of khakis, a navy blue button down dress shirt and brown dress shoes and Rebecca wore a beautiful salmon colored dress with matching heels. They spent dinner laughing, drinking wine, and talking with the other couples at the restaurant.  
After dinner, they took a long walk on the beach and they watched the sun set as they sat on the beach. After the sun had set, they went back to their room, got into their pajamas and talked about their day. And what a day it had been! They soon fell asleep in each other’s arms once again.  
During their stay at the hotel, the much in love couple did a variety of activities. From going to the spa, to even trying their hand at golf. They also went on a snorkel trip over Maui’s coral reefs and they took lots of pictures with their underwater digital cameras too. Josh and Rebecca also took a guided tour of Maui’s forested uplands where they learned about Hawaii’s natural and cultural history.   
They also traveled to the islands of Maui, Kauai, Oahu and The Big Island. While in Maui they visited the Iao Valley State Park where they saw the Iao Needle, 2,250 ft rock formation. They also went snorkeling, shopping and visited other national parks. Josh and Rebecca spent time at the Kula Botanical Garden; they tasted wine at the Tedeschi Winery and even tried pineapple wine! Josh and Rebecca watched many sunrises and sunsets too. To chill out, they went to art museums, and art galleries. The young couple took helicopter rides over volcanoes, went surfing and whale-watching. As was the variety of restaurants, they went to a different one each night, wanting to experience all that Maui had to offer! Every night ended with a stroll on the beach watching the sunset.   
On the island of Kauai they kayaked down the river, got serenaded by Hawaiian musicians at the Fern Grotto, hiked through Spouting Horn Park, visited the Kilauea Lighthouse, and visited the various waterfalls on the island. For fun things to do, they both zipped down through the tree tops on a zip line, which was very thrilling! They spent their time hiking along the Napali coast. They got the chance to go horseback riding through the ocean, which was something they were longing to do. While in Kauai, they spent time just talking and enjoying each other’s company, at times not saying much because no words were needed. They even charted a boat and took a private ride and spent time together snuggling.   
On Oahu, they both took surfing lessons on Waikiki Beach, visited lots of different art galleries, watched surfers on the North Shore and they visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. That visit was a very somber and sobering moment for them both. They thanked God for all the men and women who had given the ultimate sacrifice so that they may live. Needless to say, it was a humbling experience for them both. Tears were shed by both, as they took it all in. 

While at the memorial, they went to the Battleship Missouri Memorial where they were lucky enough to get a tour of the battleship from the deck to the 16 inch guns that could fire a 2,700 pound shell 23 miles. After this, they visited the USS Bowfin Museum and Park and then the Pacific Aviation Museum and lastly they went to the USS Oklahoma Memorial. After a day of somber events, they quietly took in dinner at their suite, telling each other how much these memorials meant to them and how it had affected them. To end their time on this island, they went swimming with the dolphins and ate dinner at a local restaurant by candlelight.   
On The Big Island, Josh and Rebecca saw the spectacular lava flows of the Kilauea volcano at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park; they played in the snow atop Mauna Kea, the world’s tallest mountain which is measured from the ocean floor. Together they went to the largest restored ancient Hawaiian religious temple. They walked hand in hand along the white sand beaches; they ate a variety of local fish and went shopping. Together they went to many festivals and learned about the history of the Big Island. They went snorkeling and went whale-watching.  
On their last night in Hawaii, they went to each dinner at a local favorite restaurant, where they spent hours talking about everything they had seen, done and heard on their wonderful holiday. Josh wore a pair of dress khakis, dress shoes and a white button down dress shirt. Rebecca wore a beautiful yellow sundress with matching shoes which looked wonderful on her now tanned body.   
At one point during their dinner, Rebecca smiled at Josh and handed him a wrapped gift box.   
“Now, honey, I know that this isn’t much, but I hope that you love it anyway. When I first saw it, I knew I had to get it for you! I love you oh so much!” she said with a blush.  
“Aww babe, you didn’t have to get me anything. Coming here with you was a gift in and of itself. But if you insist!” Josh said with a playful grin.  
He opened the box and stared. There in the box was a beautiful platinum silver bracelet, which had in the inscription “I will love you for all eternity.” With the dates of their holiday listed.   
Josh felt tears coming to his eyes. “This is one of the most beautiful gifts I’ve ever received. Thank you so much honey!” he said as he voice got thick with emotion.  
The emotional man leaned over the table and kissed her sweetly. It conveyed what words at the moment couldn’t: love, passion, tenderness, thoughtful, wonderful, and romantic.  
The kiss ended and Josh excitedly put on the bracelet.   
“I promise you that I’ll never take this off, ever. Even when we’re apart, I’ll look at it and think of you. I love you so much!” he said with a smile as tears of happiness rolled down his cheeks.  
Rebecca looked at her man, never had she seen anyone more handsome! He looked beautiful in the candlelight and oh how the bracelet shone brightly! She smiled at him and he returned it.  
The couple spent the rest of dinner, quiet, but in a loving way. After paying for their food, they went back to their suite. Instead of getting into their pajamas, they sat and talked on the couch, still wearing their clothes from dinner. Rebecca at one point got up and put in a CD and selected the track.  
She continued to stand and she looked at Josh and said, “I know that it’s usually the guy who asks the girl, but I’m going to break tradition and ask you if you’d dance with me.”  
“I’d love nothing more. Now I may not be able to dance fast, or at all for that matter, but slow dancing is one thing I can do.” he said as he stood up.   
“I hope this song isn’t too cheesy, but I heard it and it made me think of you. So Josh, tonight this is my song for you.” she said as the music began to play and they began to dance.   
“Spend all your time waiting for that second chance   
For the break that will make it ok  
There's always some reason to feel not good enough   
And it's hard at the end of the day   
I need some distraction oh beautiful release   
Memories seep from my veins   
They may be empty and weightless and maybe   
I'll find some peace tonight 

In the arms of an Angel fly away from here   
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear   
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie   
You're in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here 

So tired of the straight line, and everywhere you turn   
There's vultures and thieves at your back   
The storm keeps on twisting, you keep on building the lies   
That you make up for all that you lack   
It don't make no difference, escaping one last time   
It's easier to believe   
In this sweet madness, oh this glorious sadness   
That brings me to my knees 

In the arms of an Angel far away from here   
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear   
You are pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie   
In the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here 

You're in the arms of an Angel; may you find some comfort here”  
The song ended and they continued to dance, neither of them paying attention to the next song being played. Their eyes were focused solely on each other. Words need not be said to express how they were feeling at the moment.   
Josh had tears of joy and happiness streaming down his face by this time as he took into himself the meaning of the words in the song. Rebecca hoped he understood how she felt about him. To make her point known, she gently wiped away his tears and kissed him with a soft, but passionate kiss, conveying every emotion that she was feeling at that moment.  
Time stood still and it felt like heaven for them both. Many minutes later, they broke the kiss and continued to stare into each other’s eyes. Wordlessly, Rebecca momentarily left Josh’s embrace and turned off the CD player. Then she took his hand and led him into their bedroom where they got dressed in their pajamas and spent the remainder of the night doing nothing but lying in each other’s arms, savoring each moment. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, into a deep and peaceful sleep. Each of them felt so blessed to have spent this time with each other on this long and much needed holiday.


	15. Chapter 15

As Josh’s official tour photographer, Rebecca spent the next five years touring with Josh and his band. During these five years, of course, she got to spend time with her family and friends too celebrating Christmas’, birthdays, Thanksgivings, New Years, and other holidays. She visited many big cities with their large venues, small cities with their intimate concert halls and dozens and dozens of airports and hotels. As busy as she was, she wouldn’t trade it for the world!   
She and Josh spent most of their free time together, touring the cities and places they were in, playing Guitar Hero which Rebecca was quite bad at, talking, and taking in a movie from their vast DVD collection and other things. Other times when they weren’t together, Josh was either practicing with the band, planning out his next tour stop, eating or sleeping.  
Their love for each other had become stronger than ever. Alone, they often lay close to each other, touching and caressing each other. They both marveled in the love they shared. It was those times they spent alone, in which they told in whispers their deepest fears, desires, dreams and joys. Neither of them would forget moments like these.   
It was one of these days and nights alone in February, February 27th to be precise, that neither of them would forget, especially Josh.   
On this particular day, they were at a hotel in Madrid, Spain. A place neither of them had been to before, but Josh had convinced his manager to let him find a new and different place to perform. This was the place they chose. They had been in Spain with the band for a week now, performing in intimate venues, taking in the sights and singing in large concert halls. The culture, history, people and food were all amazing!   
Josh woke up the morning of his birthday and the first thing he saw was Rebecca staring at him, smiling. She leaned down and kissed him sweetly.  
“Good morning and happy birthday” she said.  
“Thanks and good morning to you too.” he said as he yawned.   
“How long have you been awake?” he asked her as he yawned once more and smiled.  
“About an hour or so, its 8:00am by the way.” she replied as she got up from the bed and walked over and got a fresh cup of coffee for him.   
Josh had now put his glasses on, still trying to wake up. He gratefully took the cup of hot liquid and took a sip, savoring the taste and aroma. She knew he wasn’t a morning person so they both remained quiet. As he sat there sipping his coffee, he looked at what she was wearing, an old plain white t-shirt that he had given her a few years ago, and a pair of black boy shorts. Her hair was brushed but still looked messy, but that was fine by her. She knew Josh didn’t care what she looked like in the morning.   
Rebecca sat on the edge of the bed and looked at him, a loopy grin on her face. He wore his glasses, which were askew having put them on while still trying to wake up. He had on a white t-shirt and boxers with bananas on them.  
‘God even half asleep and drinking coffee, he still looks so sexy!’ she thought to herself as she grinned.  
“What are you grinning at?” he asked as he continued to drink his coffee.  
“Just you.” she said. He smiled at her.   
Josh eventually finished his coffee, put the cup down and said, “So what’s on the agenda for today?”   
“It’s your birthday, we’ll do whatever you want…Although I do have something planned for your birthday present this evening.” she said with a devilish grin.  
(PG-13):  
Josh knew that look too well and grinned at her, his eyes darkening with desire. Rebecca could feel herself becoming taken by his deep brown eyes. Silent moments passed as they stared into each other eyes. Rebecca got up and sat down next to Josh and kissed him passionately. She pushed him down onto the bed, straddled him and kissed him once again, running her hands through his hair. He reciprocated the kiss and ran his hands through her hair and up and down her body. The woman groaned as she felt Josh’s hands touch her in the ways he knew she loved. She ran her hands up and down Josh’s chest and body, caressing him and making him groan as well as they continued to kiss.   
(End PG-13)  
After many minutes, she looked at him with cheeks flushed and said, “As much as I’d love to finish this right now. We’re wasting daylight, so let’s get going.”   
Not wanting to let the heated moments end, but knowing they had to, they slipped out of each other’s embraces and went and got ready. An hour later, they had both showered and dressed in comfortable clothing. Josh wore a pair of dark blue jeans with his Cons and a pale blue long sleeve dress shirt with a white t-shirt underneath and a well worn black leather coat. Rebecca wore a pair of dark blue jeans as well, with a pair of brown tennis shoes and a white colored camisole with a red wine colored hoodie sweater overtop.   
It wasn’t often that Josh was able to really relax on his birthday, as he was either on tour, in the studio or busy with something else. Josh got a bunch of phone calls from his family all wishing him a happy birthday. Josh’s band and crew also called and wished him a Happy Birthday. The singer felt so very blessed by God to have such wonderful family and friends who loved and supported him. He couldn’t ask for more than that.   
Before they set out, Josh got a text message from his fan club president, telling him that in honor of his birthday that the Grobanites had donated a total of $75,000 towards his Foundation. Josh was floored! His eyes began to water as he told Rebecca of what his Grobanites had done in honor of his birthday. Never had he had such gracious, warm hearted, caring and loving fans such as these! The singer knew that his fans were some awesome people! Josh quickly texted back relaying his shock, awe, joy and extreme gratefulness to his fans for all that they had done for him!   
The fun loving couple spent the day doing whatever Josh wanted to do and Rebecca was happy to oblige him. Rebecca had taken Spanish back in high school and after a little practice; she was easily conversing with the locals. This helped Josh out immensely who was happy to have her along, helping him with the language barrier. In spite of the chilly weather, they spent time hiking, visited the Wine Culture Museum, and they also visited a local winery. Lastly they went to visit the various shops throughout the area. They were tired but very happy after their long day. After seeing the various shops, Rebecca discretely called the restaurant to make sure that the reservations she had made were still open, which they were.  
They went back to their hotel and Rebecca told Josh that she had three birthday gifts for him. Excitedly, Josh tried his best to get her to tell him, but she wouldn’t give him any hints. The only thing she told him, for now, was to wear what she had laid out for him. Now Rebecca was a sucker for guys in black suits, especially when the said guy had brown hair and deep brown eyes! What woman wouldn’t be?   
Josh showered and dressed, putting on the suit. He wore a black dress shirt, black tie and black shoes. Underneath his dress shirt was a black t-shirt. Now Josh wasn’t the kind of man to think of himself as vain, but he looked dang good! The brown haired man paced the room as he was anxious to see what she had put on. It didn’t matter to him what she wore, he knew she’d look beautiful!  
In what seemed like forever to Josh, Rebecca came out to where Josh was. Josh stopped pacing the moment he saw her. His brown eyes went wide as he took in her appearance. Her hair was neatly styled, along with make up and contacts. Rebecca wore a white v-neck dress with diamonds embedded at the dress straps and at the bust line which rounded their way around the back of the dress.  
She turned around to model the dress for Josh and said, “Do you like it honey?”  
Josh still hadn’t answered her as he was too captured by her beautiful form. Without saying a word, he strode over to her, pulled her as close to him as he could and kissed her earnestly.   
Moments later he looked into her eyes and said, “If that doesn’t tell you that I love it then maybe this will.” Josh said with a mischievous grin as he took her hand and placed it on his pants. Rebecca grinned as she could clearly feel his arousal through his dress pants.   
“Good to know that I have that affect on you” she grinned back.   
Then Rebecca smiled and slid her hands up his chest and said, “Baby, you don’t know how hot you look right now! There’s something so dang sexy about you dressed all in black! You don’t know how badly I want you right now.” she told him as her eyes began to darken with desire.   
Josh could tell from her words and actions that she was feeling the exact same way that he was feeling. No words needed to be said as they spoke with their eyes the volume of sexual tension, want and desire each of them had for the other. As badly as each of them wanted to stay in and skip dinner, they did have reservations to make.   
As hard as it was they left their hotel room and headed off to dinner.  
They ate dinner at Zalacain in Madrid. Rebecca had requested privacy for them both and they were seated in one of the five private dining rooms. Josh was in awe of the restaurant. Never before had he been to one such as this. The attention to detail that the servers, manager, owner and chef gave them was impeccable! Not to mention that the décor and ambiance was just perfect! The singer loved the idea of the private dining rooms, the covered terrace, the waiting bar and the two main dining rooms. This place was huge!   
Once seated, they ordered their wine and dinner. The room was filled with soft candlelight, perfect for a romantic dinner. Rebecca insisted that Josh order the wine and so the couple drank an exquisite red wine, known for its full bodied taste. It was called the Vega-Sicilia. For dinner, Josh ordered crepes stuffed with smoked fish and Rebecca ordered ravioli stuffed with mushrooms, foie grass, and truffles. For desert they ordered chocolate custard.   
After desert was over, the couple sat and talked about the day that they had had together. What they had enjoyed the most on Josh’s special day. Josh also discussed their next tour stops, the venues etc. The singer then asked Rebecca her opinion of different ways that they could take pictures and use them as promos. She suggested some ideas and Josh said he’d run them by his management team and let her know. After all, she was part of his crew and had a right to know about the goings on of his tour.   
Rebecca smiled and then held up her wine glass and said, “Here’s to you Josh, to a memorable birthday.” as she raised her wine glass in a toast to him.  
“Thank you Rebecca for this birthday, and this dinner, it’s been wonderful” Josh spoke as he smiled at her. Afterward, they both took a sip of their wine in celebration.   
“This dinner isn’t your only gift for the night” Rebecca said as she leaned down and got something out of the small purse she had brought with her.  
“Here’s your second gift. I hope that you like it. I thought it would fit you and your personality. If you don’t like it you can always return it…” her voice trailed off as she handed him the second gift.  
Josh opened the second gift, which was a small box and smiled at what he saw. Inside the box lay a beautiful titanium ring. The ring had a polished look to it, with a silver band encircling the ring. The singer marveled at the quality and beauty of the ring.   
He looked up at his waiting girlfriends face; he could see the anticipation in her eyes. He smiled big and said, “Rebecca, I love it! No I don’t plan on exchanging it, it’s perfect!”   
Rebecca smiled at him and said, “Josh, I’m so glad that you liked it! I was worried you wouldn’t and it makes me so happy that you like it so much! By the way, it’s not considered to be a wedding ring, just a really tasteful men’s ring. Pick it up and try it on.”  
He did as she instructed and just as the brown eyed singer was going to put on the ring, he noticed that the candlelight had caught an inscription that was engraved in the ring and made the inscription shine. Josh carefully made out the inscription, which said, “To my best friend. I love you.” The date was also engraved.   
Josh looked up at Rebecca and he caught her grinning at him. The singer than spoke, “Aww, honey thank you. You’re my best friend too.” he said with a grateful smile.   
Josh then slid the ring onto his right ring finger. It shone beautifully in the candlelight. He was proud to have gotten a gift such as this. He wasn’t the kind of man to wear jewelry, but he had made an exception to this rule when it came to the gifts that Rebecca had given him.   
They idly talked for a few more moments before they got the check. The owner came out to them and told them that everything was on the house. Both of them thanked the owner, manager, server and chef for their gracious hospitality and service and told them they’d be coming back soon.   
(NC-17)  
Rebecca and Josh left and soon made it back to their hotel room. The electricity that flowed between them was there once more. It wasn’t long after that their hotel door was closed and locked that Josh had Rebecca sandwiched between his body and the bed as they kissed feverishly.   
After only a few moments, they both came up for air, and Rebecca spoke, “Josh, let me go get changed and then I’ll give you your third birthday gift, okay?”   
All Josh could do was nod his head as he saw that look of desire build up in her eyes. Rebecca got off the bed and started to walk back towards the bathroom. She called over her shoulder to Josh, “Honey, I’d get comfortable if I were you.” she said with a naughty grin.  
The green eyed woman made her way into the bathroom and got ready. Meanwhile Josh took off his black suit jacket, shoes, and tie. He then lay on the bed on his back in his t-shirt, pants and bare feet in anticipation, his mind whirling as he tried to think of what his last birthday gift could be. He didn’t have to wait long to find out as the bathroom door opened and Rebecca came out wearing a white terry cloth robe.  
She walked over to where he lay, Josh could see the hunger in her eyes and he felt his heartbeat quicken. The green eyed woman said nothing as she smiled at him and leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips. Before Josh could return the kiss, she pulled away and grinned at him. Quietly, she turned around and walked away from the bed, and around the room where she pulled out votive candles she had hidden beforehand.   
From the pocket of her robe, she pulled out a lighter and lit them all. She also made sure that the blinds were closed completely. Soon the room was aglow with candles. In order to set the mood, the woman walked over and turned the room light off so the light from the candles was the only source of light.   
Still quiet, she walked over to where Josh lay, still on his back in his bare feet, dress pants and black t-shirt. The young woman reached out and tickled his feet, smiling as he pulled away from her grasp while laughing.   
Rebecca knew that it was now or never as she smiled once again at Josh. Josh could tell she was nervous about something, but he said nothing. Instead he waited until he knew she was ready to speak.   
The nervous young woman could feel herself blushing as she started to speak. “I’m really nervous about saying this Josh, but for your last birthday gift, I would like to make love to you. I’ve never done this before.” With those last words spoken, Rebecca put her head down as to avoid his eyes. She was thoroughly embarrassed.   
“Rebecca, look at me.” Josh said.  
After a moment or two, she looked up at him and saw that he had tears in his eyes. Before she could say anything, he spoke. “Honey, I’m honored and touched that you’re willing to do this for me. It shows so much love and trust that you have in me and in yourself to do this. There’s nothing that you can do to hurt me. I promise. Remember that I love you and that I’m here for you, okay?” Josh told her as he wiped away his own unshed tears.  
He smiled at her. She smiled back at him, a smile full of happiness, love and trust.  
Slowly she undid the tie to her robe and let it fall from her shoulders onto the floor. Josh let a gasp escape his lips as he took in her body. All she wore was a white lacy thong.  
“Baby, you look beautiful.” he said desire filling his voice. It made the green eyed woman shiver. He sure had a way with words! There was no doubt!  
“I’m glad that you like what you see Josh.” she told him as she slowly got on the bed and straddled him.   
She began by taking off his t-shirt and then she said, “Don’t think, just feel.” Josh closed his eyes as she began to place butterfly kisses down his arms and then down his chest. Rebecca gently kissed the places where she had given him those special gifts: his right ring finger where the titanium ring lay and then where the silver bracelet she had given him all those years ago on holiday in Hawaii.   
She loved the way he reacted through his soft moans and contended sighs. It made her happy to know that he was enjoying himself. As she kissed down his body, Josh could feel his body being set afire by each gentle soft kiss, not to mention that he was very aroused. The brown haired man had never felt so loved in that moment. He felt his heart overflow with joy to have someone like Rebecca who was this gentle and loving.  
Rebecca had now made her way down to Josh’s hips and gently leaned up and kissed his bellybutton making his laugh aloud. “Open your eyes Josh”.   
He did so and the look he saw in her eyes was pure love. If his heart wasn’t overflowing before, his heart just had crested and Josh smiled with pure love in his eyes back at her. She had never felt so loved in her life. Love radiated from every fiber of her being as she smiled at him and him at her.   
“Are you sure about this Josh?” she asked him.  
“More sure than anything in my life honey.” he said his eyes full of longing.  
Josh knew that it was a big step for her to take with him, trusting him and loving him like this. He also knew that this was something she had never done before and he admired her self-courage, love and confidence in both herself and him to do this.   
Rebecca slowly undid his pants and soon they were on the floor. Then she slipped off his red boxer briefs. After this Rebecca once again straddled Josh and gasped.  
“Enjoying the view” Josh said with a dead sexy grin.  
All Rebecca could do was to nod her head. Josh smiled at her. She had never seen a man more beautiful than the man lying before her. He was stunning in every way: from his shoulders to his taunt stomach, beautiful hips, long lean legs and ticklish feet.  
“Josh could you do me a favor please? And sit up and on the edge of the bed? I think it’ll be easier for the both of us.” she asked him as she got lost in his big brown eyes and the look of his skin glowing in the candlelight.  
Josh happily did as she asked and after standing in front of Josh she took a calming breath and smiled at him. Rebecca slowly got down on her knees in front of Josh. She looked up at him, his eyes closed, filled with peace and overflowing love for her. The young woman couldn’t help but smile at him.  
Tentatively and softly, she began to pleasure Josh with her tongue: licking, and stroking him, as she heard him moaning loudly at what she did. Josh meanwhile felt himself on fire even more so, as she pleasured him. He loved the way this felt and encouraged her through his moans, words of encouragement and hip thrusts that he loved what she was doing. The brown haired man had never felt so alive and in heaven! Rebecca then began to slowly suck him, softly at first then gradually she became bolder as she took his very hard member in his mouth and continue to pleasure him. Rebecca had never done this before and hoped she was doing it right.   
At least she thought she was due to Josh’s moans and thrusts. Josh could feel himself harden even more as she stopped sucking him and without a word she began to suck on each of his testicles. His moans grew louder and his thrusts grew faster as she pleasured him more. After this, she went back to licking and sucking Josh very hard member, enjoying the feel of everything. She’d be lying to say that this didn’t turn her on. Ever reassured by Josh’s sounds and movements, she once again took him in her mouth and with one final thrust, Josh spilt himself into her. Rebecca trusting Josh completely, gagged only once as he came into her. The taste was very salty but she accepted it and slowly swallowed it. She then removed her mouth from his hard member and looked up at him to gauge his reaction.  
Josh was breathing very hard as he tried to calm his body down. He looked down at Rebecca and smiled and said, “Come here baby.” he gestured for her to lie beside him. She got up on the bed and lay beside him, propping her head up with her arm, staring at him.  
“How was it Josh? Was I okay? Too hard? Not enough? What?” she asked him.  
“Does this tell you?” he said as she rolled her over onto her back and kissed her senseless.  
Rebecca could feel him getting aroused once again as she moaned as he kissed her. Josh kissed her with as much passion as he could muster, which at that time was a whole heck of a lot!   
They separated from each other minutes later, breathing hard.   
“That definitely tells me Josh.” she said with a smile that made him melt.   
Without a word, Josh lay down on top of her, his hips straddling hers, as he kissed her deeply and ran his hands down her body, touching her and caressing her, making her moan. Josh’s hand found its way down between her legs and he could feel she was very turned on as he began to tease and touch her which made her moan loudly.   
Trailing soft, light kisses from her mouth down to her hips, he looked at her and said, “I’d like to give you the same pleasure as you gave me, okay honey?” he asked her as his eyes shone with love for her.   
She simply nodded her head as Josh took his hands and took off her white lacy thong where it tossed it down to where the rest of his clothes were on the floor. Josh then began to stroke her slowly with his fingers, making her moan very loud and thrusting her hips. Then he lay down between her legs and began to pleasure her as she pleasured him. He loved the way she sounded, it made him happy to know she loved this as much as he was. It wasn’t long that he began to stroke her with his tongue that she felt herself climax. Josh loved that he could make her feel that way. He too would be lying if thought that that didn’t turn him on!   
Rebecca lay there for many minutes catching her breath and calming her body down, or trying to. The next Rebecca felt was Josh’s strong arms wrapped around her as they spooned each other; falling asleep in each other’s arms.   
(End NC-17)  
TBC


	16. Chapter 16

NOTE: THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M FOR SEX SCENES AND BAD LANGUAGE.  
A/N: I’m defining ‘team’ in this chapter and for the rest of the story as Josh’s managers: Brian Avnet and Lynne Malone, and vocal coach: David Romano. Josh’s family is also mentioned. My thanks to http://www.thatjoshgrobanguy.com/ for the information on Josh’s ‘team’ and his band.   
A/N : The songs are VERY IMPORTANT to this chapter, so check them out please!   
Remember When It Rained: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oKQpUQern0

With You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYpqFnYpjag 

Never Let Go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKJ24gn3taQ 

The Hard Way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaqRZl1Sw2U 

February Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm7rDB2keio&feature=related 

After Spain, Josh and the band traveled to South Africa to perform. After South Africa, they traveled to Portugal, France, Norway, Finland and the last stop of the tour was London.   
Josh was performing at the Royal Albert Hall. The Hall was gigantic and the night of Josh’s performance, it was packed with fans. Throughout his performance, Rebecca got a series of pictures that really articulated Josh’s inner and outer beauty, excitement, emotions, love for his fans, creativity and so much more. 

After the concert, Rebecca stood by and watched as Josh met with his fans, signing autographs and taking pictures. She loved to see him interact with his fans, his face lit up brightly just as it did on stage. Josh’s fans brought out the best in him. You could tell that he was very grateful to his fans and everything that they had given him. Josh went to sleep that night with Rebecca beside him, with a smile on his face, very happy. 

All was well with Josh and Rebecca, or so it seemed. 

On a professional front, things between the couple were as they should be. They had made a rule in the beginning of their relationship and once Rebecca was hired as Josh’s professional photographer to always keep their personal and professional life separate. 

They were very keen on keeping this rule intact, not only for their own sanity, but for that of their crew, band as well. At this point in time, Josh’s family wasn’t traveling with him, except Sweeney who always traveled with Josh. 

However, on a personal front, things between the couple weren’t all sunshine and puppies. Lately they had been arguing more and more. Throughout their long relationship, they hadn’t often argued or fought, so neither of them thought much of it when they began to do this more often. After all, arguing and fighting between couples was normal. 

At first, these disputes were about little things, like where to go out to dinner, what movie to watch, the fact that Josh kept putting his dirty clothes all over the floor, or the fact that Rebecca bugged him all the time to pick up those dirty clothes. It seemed at times to Josh that Rebecca was more of his mom than his girlfriend and he told her so. 

More recently however, they fought about how all they did was work and as much as the both of them immensely enjoyed and loved their work, work was all they did! Albeit, these last fights were mostly started by Rebecca. She couldn’t help it if sometimes all she wanted to do was to stay in with Josh and play Guitar Hero or just talk, but instead they had to go do a photo shoot or something else. It irked Rebecca that Josh, being the superstar that he was, couldn’t, wouldn’t or didn’t care to ask for some time off for them both. 

Josh agreed with her about not having time to themselves, it was rare that they ever got time to just spend with each other because they were either sleeping after a concert, or working on various projects etc. But he justified his arguments by telling her that if she couldn’t handle what she was dealing with, then why did she sign up for this photography gig in the first place?! If the woman was honest with herself, she’d feel guilty for saying those things, knowing full well that this was what they both did day in and day out, so why should she whine and moan about it now? 

If either of them thought that not having enough time for each other was cause for a fight, they were in for quite a surprise! 

A few days after the concert, Josh spent time around London with Rebecca taking in the scenery, architecture, people, buildings etc. While walking with her, in his mind, Josh was taking stock of the apartments or flats: their size, color, shape etc. Before they had taken this ‘walking tour’ he had contacted a realtor concerning the various flats in this area. Then he had looked up the layout of the flats and narrowed his choices down to three. He did this all without Rebecca’s knowledge; he was just hoping that he could talk her into it. 

So the next day, Josh called a meeting with his band and team, telling them he had an announcement to make. 

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I called you all here. It’s because I’ve got an announcement to make and here it is: I have decided to buy an apartment here in London. I’ve really fallen in love with this place, with the people, the culture, the music, the history and other stuff. Now I’m sure it seems irrational to think that I should be buying a flat so soon after just getting here, but I’ve been looking into some places and really liked what I saw. So what does everyone think?”

Josh did his best to avoid Rebecca’s eyes; he knew that she was mad as hell for not telling her sooner, much less looking into buying a flat without her!   
To say that they were shocked was an understatement! 

Brian was the first to speak, “Josh, I’m sure you think you’ve probably thought this through all the way. But are you sure that this is such as wise idea? I mean, how often do you think you’ll be over here in Europe? Yes you did some dates here a few years ago, but are you sure you’ve really thought this over? What about finances? Promo’s, touring, recording etc.”

Josh replied, “Brian, you make some good points and I agree there are some things I still need to think about and discuss. On the other hand, I did do quite a few dates in Europe, most noted was London a few years back and I loved it! I loved the change of pace of lifestyle, the people, the fans, the culture, the food, the history. Man I could go on forever! Yeah the weather sucks, but what place on earth has good weather? After all haven’t the European Grobanites said time and time again that they wanted more concerts? This way I’ll be able tour around Europe and have a place to rest my head every few weeks without having to spend lots of money traveling back and forth from the US to Europe. ” 

As he talked, they could all see the excitement building in Josh’s eyes, the love that he felt for this place was real. The rest of Josh’s team and band members gave their opinions and thoughts upon the matter, everyone except Rebecca. The singer told his team that he would think it over more and get back to them with a final decision. They all knew how stubborn the brown eyed singer could be and hoped that he made the right decision. Josh knew he was going to catch all sorts of hell once they got back to the hotel room.   
And catch hell he did. Once the door was closed, Rebecca was still quiet as she sat on the bed. Josh knew that that was never a good sign with her. 

Josh started to speak, “Rebecca, look I’m sorry. I didn’t think…” he was cut off.

“That’s right Josh you didn’t think! And why the hell would you?! Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should have talked with me first? Instead of dropping this bombshell at a meeting?! Are you always this stupid about big life decisions? Geez! Let me ask you this: do your parents know about this? Let me answer that for you: NO! Or is that a yes that you’re telling me in your silence? God, when the hell did you become so thoughtless and dimwitted?! What about your house in LA, are you going to sell it, or keep it? What about seeing your family and friends and your band members? How are they going to meet you and stay with you? Are you going to pay each and every time for them to come here? Have you thought about your Grobanites in the USA, what will they think? What about touring in the States? Obviously you haven’t thought this through well enough! ” she yelled at him.  
Josh stood there and took every word she threw at him. He deserved to be called every name in the book. 

Feeling guilty Josh looked at her and said, “I deserved that. You’re right; I am an idiot and a big jerk for not telling you. I should have and I’m sorry. I wanted to surprise you and I can say that that’s been done and it obviously didn’t go well. I was hoping that you’d warm up to the idea and go along. I’m an ass for thinking that you’d go along with something like this before I even told you about it! There are, a lot of things that I need to think about, that you mentioned, like my home in LA, telling my parents and family, my band, touring in the USA, the Grobanites back in the States…” his voice trailed off. 

It was only after Josh stopped speaking that Rebecca looked at him. She saw that he had tears running down his face. She could tell that he felt guilty about what he had done and/or did. But as soon as she had felt bad for him, the next moment she was angry all over again and rightfully so! Why should she feel bad for yelling at him? She knew he knew he deserved it. 

Needless to say, that night was a tense one for the both of them. There was no cuddling or watching TV while holding each other, there was only silence. Over the next few days, neither of them spoke to each other, Rebecca was still mad and Josh still felt guilty. On the third day of their silence, Josh couldn’t take it anymore. He had woken up early which was very unusual for him; of course he hadn’t been sleeping for the last few days. 

He lay there next to Rebecca who was still sleeping and watched her sleep. Even when she was mad as hell at him, she looked beautiful! Josh knew what he did was selfish and stupid and wrong and he knew Rebecca knew how he felt. But he couldn’t take them not talking or touching anymore! It was slowly killing him inside not to kiss or touch her cheek! Josh felt tears well up in his eyes as he watched her sleep. He longed to kiss and touch her and talk to her!   
Josh leaned down and sweetly kissed her lips, which woke up Rebecca, who was a light sleeper anyway. The first thought that came to her was ‘What time is it? And why is he kissing me?’ 

Rebecca opened her eyes, and did her best to look angry, but that was dang near impossible as she looked into those big brown eyes and saw the tears in them. In silence she watched as Josh placed kisses on her lips and down her throat as he whispered the words “I’m sorry” repeatedly. She could hear the hurt and sorrow in his voice and she felt her own heart break. 

The woman stopped Josh as he placed one last kiss on the hollow of her throat by taking her hand and running it through his hair. Josh’s head flew up and she saw that the tears he had in his eyes were flowing freely down his face. 

Then she spoke the words that Josh longed to hear, “I’m sorry too Josh. I love you and forgive you. I…” she was cut off from speaking as Josh’s lips crashed down on top of hers.  
She could taste the salt from his tears and the guilt and sadness that he had been feeling. After a few moments, Josh broke the kiss and looked into her eyes.

“Thank you…for forgiving me. I’m sorry, so sorry that I disrespected you like I did, and that I didn’t consider your needs. I’m a jerk for being so selfish and you had every right to be mad at me. What can I do to make it up to you?” he spoke his voice thick with emotion.

He paused for a moment and then continued to speak. “What should we tell the band and the team? Should we call them now? I need to call…” this time he was cut off.  
Rebecca put a finger on his lips to shush him. She smiled at him, he had missed that smile for so long, and it had felt like an eternity!   
“Listen to me, okay? We’ll work through this. How about you call your team and set up a meeting time for later on today and once they confirm it, I’ll call your band and set up the same time, okay?” she spoke to him as she smiled at him once more.

Josh just smiled at her and got off the bed and made the phone call to his team and confirmed a meeting time for 2pm later that day. Then Rebecca called and confirmed a meeting with his band for the same time. 

After Rebecca made her call on the room’s phone, her cell phone which lay on the bedside table beeped indicating that she had a text message. She realized that she’d forgotten to turn it off and grabbed it from the table. 

Josh looked at her intently. The curious woman smiled a big smile as she realized who had sent her a text message. It was her longtime friend Justin, whom she had met a few years before she had met Josh. Their relationship was an interesting one, in that, they both constantly flirted with each other, and talked and laughed and enjoyed each other’s company in spite of their age difference. They had met while both on holiday in Italy together, but had lost touch with each other afterward for many years. Who knew what could have happened between the two of them if they hadn’t lost contact with each other?

Justin’s text read, Hi Rebecca! How r u? Long time, no chat! Found ur cell number thru a friend. Seen ur photos online, U R AWESOME! Do u still know Italian? Want 2 hang out & chat? Live in London, work at a bank. Ciao! : ) 

Rebecca quickly texted Justin, Hi Justin! Been a long time! So good 2 hear from u! Thx 4 the kind words. Yes let’s meet. Will let u know when & where. Ciao! : ) 

After she was done texting, she closed her phone and put it back on the bedside table and got back into bed, still smiling.

“You’re all smiles suddenly. A good text message, I take it?” Josh questioned.

“Yeah, that was a good friend of mine, Justin who I haven’t seen or talked to in years. We both met while on holiday in Italy. He’s a great guy, very funny, a good listener and smart. He wants to meet up soon to chat. There’s no need to worry, okay? He’s just a friend, nothing more.” Rebecca told Josh as she saw him smile. 

Josh then whispered to her as he held her and stroked her hair, “I’ve missed this so much. You have no idea!” 

“I’ve missed this too Josh.” she said with a smile and a yawn.

“Will you hold me?” she asked as she snuggled down into his embrace and the bed covers.

“There’s nothing that I would love more.” he said with a bright smile on his face. Rebecca had dearly missed that beautiful smile of his and it was the last thing she saw as she closed her eyes and slept as the man she loved held her close and stroked her hair.

As Josh lay there holding the one he loved, he couldn’t help but think about what Rebecca had told him about Justin. There was something about this man that bothered the singer; he just couldn’t put his finger on it, which frustrated him to no end. Josh did his best to put it out of his mind. 

Eventually Josh fell asleep too and they both slept for hours, waking up feeling at peace with each other, which was a wonderful feeling. Noting the time, they both showered and dressed. Josh wore a pair of dark blue jeans with a navy blue t-shirt, and a black zip up hoodie and his contacts. Rebecca wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a grey zip up hoodie and her contacts as well. 

They ate lunch at a small, out of the way restaurant before the meeting. 

After they ate lunch and were sitting in the restaurant sipping their coffee, Josh spoke.

“Rebecca, I know that we agreed not to move to London. But I don’t think we can stay in the hotel much longer, you know? I think it might be a good idea for us to find an apartment to rent while we’re here. Plus I think the team and band are in need of a holiday, it’s long overdue. So what do you think?” he asked her as he sipped his coffee.  
“I think you’re right, I think we’ve overstayed our welcome and we need to find a place to rent for a while. As for the holiday idea, why don’t you mention it at the meeting today? I think everyone would be keen on the idea after such a long and arduous tour.” she said as she sipped her coffee.

“Good idea. As for the holiday, why don’t you suggest that they decide for themselves what they want to do, if they want to stay here in London and visit for the next week or so or if they want to fly back to the States. Sound good? I’d really like to get out and see the city and really experience it and you never know how long we’ll be here for. As for the apartment to rent, after the meeting, why don’t you call the realtor and explain the situation and ask if we can rent the apartment instead of buying it.” Rebecca said as she took another sip of her coffee. 

Josh said, “I think that that’s a really good idea, for the apartment and the holiday. Awesome! Are you ready to go?” he said looking at his watch, noting the time.

“Let’s rock!” she said with a smile as she picked up her coffee and Josh picked up his and together they headed out the door. 

Everyone was relieved and happy to hear that Josh had changed his mind about moving to London. He didn’t go into detail about why, he just told them that he had been foolish and selfish and it had been wrong of him to do so. But he did tell them that he and Rebecca had discussed it and while they weren’t moving to London permanently, they would be renting an apartment. They understood the reasoning behind this and supported what the couple was doing. In the end, everyone was very happy. 

Just as soon as everyone was getting up and leaving, Josh cleared his throat, enough to get everyone’s attention. He looked over at Rebecca who gave him a wink and smile.

“There’s something that Rebecca and I were discussing earlier today and we both thought it would be a good idea. I know that this tour has been very long and tiring and everyone has put in a huge amount of effort and time and I couldn’t be more proud! I think this tour was the most fun I’ve had, and I hope you have had too. It was a lot of hard work, but everyone really stepped up to the plate and gave it their all. So here’s what I…what we were thinking. As a reward for all your hard work, we think everyone deserves a holiday.”

Josh looked at Brian, Lynne, and David as he waited for their reaction to suggesting a holiday. After all, while he was the singer, his team had the final say in things like this. It was pretty bold of Josh to assume that something like this would be okay to do, without contacting his team first. He just hoped that they would say yes. '

Everyone was quiet as the team members thought it over. They quietly whispered to each other for a few moments. 

Brian was the only one to speak, “I think that that’s a great idea Josh. Why don’t we let everyone decide what they want to do.”

After some discussion, Brian, Lynne and David all decided that they would head back to the States. Meanwhile, Josh’s band: Tariqh, Lucia, Craig, Tim, Andre and Mark decided to hang out in London and experience what the city had to offer. 

Before he said what he was going to say, he glanced over at Rebecca who smiled at him and gave him a wink. The green eyed woman knew she could trust Josh’s judgment. 

Happy with the news, Josh looked over at his band members and said, “Everyone is welcome to stay at our apartment while they’re in London. It’s the least that Rebecca and I can do.”

His band members heartily thanked him and Rebecca for their generosity. Having worked everything out, the meeting quickly ended. 

Over the next few days everybody was busy. Brian, Lynne and David all left for the States the following morning. In the meantime, Josh, Rebecca, Tariqh, Lucia, Craig, Tim, Andre and Mark were all busy packing, and making various phone calls etc. 

After what seemed like forever, Josh, Rebecca and the band all moved into their newly rented London apartment. Luckily for them, the realtor had been willing to allow them to pay their rent every week, instead of every month. Over the next two weeks, everybody spent time together, exploring the sights and sounds of London. They visited the Natural History Museum, the National Gallery which held Europe’s biggest collection of art, the Science Museum, and the London Eye, which is the world’s highest observation wheel and will allow you to see London’s 55 famous landmarks. 

The large group also visited some parks, various pubs, and bars. As well as taking in a game of rugby, visiting the Royal Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall, going to a few comedy clubs and taking in various movies at the cinema. They also went shopping and bought lots of wonderful gifts. For dinner, they ate at a variety of places: from Coq d’ Argent, a French restaurant, to Hush, a bar/restaurant/cocktail longue to Fire and Stone, a large pizza restaurant, to other assorted restaurants. 

At this stage of their relationship, Josh and Rebecca and their band members had gotten used to the paparazzi following them wherever they went, but that didn’t mean they had to like it. It was one of the things Rebecca in particular had to get used to early on in their relationship and she dealt with them like a pro, being cordial but somewhat aloof. Heck, even in London they were followed everywhere, from the zoo to an outing with their band members/friends. The paparazzi were just another part of the superstar that Josh had become. He too dealt with them in a polite, but somewhat disgruntled, at times, manner. But most of the time, he didn’t mind them. 

After two weeks, the band members decided to leave London and go back to the States. Rebecca and Josh saw them all off to the airport. It was a happy but sad time for all involved. 

Throughout the two weeks, Rebecca and Justin texted each other quite a lot since it was hard to meet each other due to conflicting schedules. Josh didn’t mind it, every once in a while, but it had gotten to the point where Rebecca would be texting while she and Josh were trying to watch a movie in their apartment, or when she would text while they were out as a large group eating dinner, or when they would walk through the parks. Josh was becoming very frustrated and annoyed by all of this! He felt like he was playing second fiddle to this guy Justin and he hated it! Josh felt like they were slipping away from each other, he wanted to do what he could to change that. 

To put an end to this, he decided to take Rebecca out to dinner. The singer wanted to be respectful, polite, but also let her know how he felt. That night, a Monday, they went to one of their favorite restaurant, which was the pizza joint which they had found with their friends on one of the first nights walking around London.

After being seated and ordering their pizza and drinks, which they both drank water, they sat in silence. It wasn’t the usual comfortable silence the couple had known. Both of them could feel the tension in the air.

Josh was the first to speak as he ran a hand through his unruly dark curls. “Rebecca, I know things between us lately haven’t been the best. You know that I don’t mind you texting your friend Justin, but this is getting a bit much. Whenever we try to spend some time together, you’re always texting and it’s driving me mad! I feel as if you’re spending all your time with Justin and none with me. I can’t stand feeling as if we’re drifting apart.” 

Rebecca could tell that Josh was feeling mistreated and left out. She didn’t blame him for feeling the way he was. She’d been neglecting him and felt responsible. The guilt ridden young woman looked into Josh’s big brown eyes and could see every emotion he was feeling and it made her heart hurt to know that she had made him feel that way. 

“Baby, I’m sorry that I’ve made you feel like that. I really didn’t mean to. I don’t want to drive us apart and I’m sorry that I’ve been paying more attention to talking with Justin than spending time with you. I’ll do my best not to let this interrupt our life again. Can you forgive me please?” Rebecca said as she looked into his eyes.

Josh was quiet for a few moments and then he spoke. “Yes Rebecca, I do forgive you. I’m glad that you understand how I’m feeling, that’s comforting. It’s good to know that we’re willing to work together to have more time for each other. I love you.”

“I love you too baby.” Rebecca replied with a sweet smile.

It was then that their pizza came and they sat and ate their pizza and talked about things they could do together.   
They paid their bill and as they stood up a man walked up to them. He tapped Rebecca on the shoulder and she turned around.   
“Ciao Rebecca!” a man with a bright smile asked her.

(“Hi Rebecca!”)  
“Justin!” the woman said with a smile. 

The good friends then exchanged the customary Italian greeting of kissing each other’s cheeks once on each side.   
“Io sto facendo molto bene. È meraviglioso per finalmente veder. La! Come sta?” Rebecca replied.   
(“I’m doing very well. It’s wonderful to finally see you! How are you?”) Rebecca replied with a smile. 

“Io sto facendo molto bene. Io sto lavorando ad una banca ed io lo godo. Rebecca, Lei guarda bello!” Justin said as he smiled once more.   
(“I’m doing very well. I’m working at a bank and I enjoy it. Rebecca, you look beautiful! ”) Justin said as he smiled once more. 

‘Even after all these years, she still looks beautiful!’ Justin thought to himself. 

Rebecca blushed and smiled from embarrassment and from his statement as she remembered Josh was standing right next to her, silent all this time. 

‘God, he stills knows how to make me blush. I love it when he’s charming!’ she thought to herself. 

“Justin possiamo parlare per favore in inglesi così includere il mio amico nella nostra conversazione?” Rebecca asked, not wanting to make Josh feel unimportant.  
(“Justin can we please speak in English so to include my boyfriend in our conversation?” Rebecca asked, not wanting to make Josh feel unimportant.

Justin understood immediately and smiled at Josh, who in return smiled a polite smile at the man.

Josh had taken this time to observe Rebecca and Justin. From what the singer could see, they seemed to have a very flirteous, but fun friendship. Josh was okay with Rebecca having friendships with other men. He wasn’t the controlling type of guy. 

As Josh took in the man’s appearance, it was then that it dawned on him, what had been bothering him all this time about this guy…he was old enough to be her dad! Which in a way was creepy, but he trusted Rebecca. He knew she wouldn’t ever betray his trust and love like that, would she? The brown eyed singer mentally shook himself and reminded himself that Rebecca was with him and not this other guy. But how was he to know the intentions of this guy, he wasn’t sure if he could trust this Justin guy. 

“Josh? Josh?...Earth to Josh!” Rebecca said as she gentle shook Josh on the shoulder.

Josh was shaken out of his stupor as he felt his arm being shook. 

“You okay baby? You seemed a thousand miles away.” she said with a curious look on her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine Rebecca, I was just thinking.” Josh replied.

“I’m sorry about all that Italian earlier. I hope I didn’t make you feel left out and I’m sorry if I did.” the green eyed woman said with an apologetic look in her eyes.

“No harm done.” Josh answered.

Now it was Justin’s turn to speak. “Josh, it’s so good to finally meet you! Rebecca has told me all about you and your amazing career! Your music has really inspired and encouraged me through out my life. I have yet to see you in concert, but through Rebecca’s photography I feel as if I have. She’s just a wonderful and talented photographer!”

The comments about Rebecca’s photography made her blush with embarrassment and pride. Pride in how she was complimented on capturing all that was Josh in her pictures.

“Thank you Justin and I’m glad that my music could help you. That’s why I do what I love, to help people like you. Yes, Rebecca is a very artistic photographer. She’s also my best friend.” Josh replied as he smiled a big smile.

The three of them talked for quite some time, getting to know what the others had been up to etc. Josh felt calmer as he talked with this man. 

‘Maybe he isn’t such a bad guy after all. He seems to generally be happy for us. Maybe I’m just kidding myself. ’ Josh thought. 

Before they left and went their separate ways, Justin looked at Josh and asked him if he could ask Rebecca something in Italian. Josh told him that was fine by him.

“Era meraviglioso per veder. La di nuovo Rebecca. Vuole avere cena con me venerdì a 7pm? Io conosco un grande luogo italiano!” Justin asked with a hopeful smile.   
(“It was wonderful to see you again Rebecca. Do you want to have dinner with me on Friday at 7pm? I know a great Italian place!”) Justin asked with a hopeful smile.   
Rebecca thought about it for a moment and then she replied with a bright smile. 

“È stato grande per veder. La Justin anche! Venerdì a 7 suoni grande. Mi andrà a prendere, corretto? Ciao!”   
(“It’s been great to see you too Justin! Friday at 7 sounds great. You’ll pick me up, okay? Bye!”)

“Sicuro io La sceglierò su a 7:00. Solo sia sicuro per spedirmi il Suo indirizzo. Io non posso aspettare vederLa! Ciao ciao!” Justin said with a wave and a smile.   
(“Sure I’ll pick you up at 7:00. Just be sure to send me your address. I can’t wait to see you! Bye bye!”) Justin said with a wave and a smile. 

They walked away together, out of the restaurant and towards his car Josh asked, “What was that last conversation you had about? I don’t know much Italian, but I understood a few words, like dinner and Friday and 7pm.” 

Rebecca sighed inwardly, she was a in a very good mood and didn’t want to ruin it. She stopped walking and turned towards the brown haired man she loved. 

“Justin asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with him on Friday at 7pm at an Italian restaurant he knows and I told him I’d go.” the somewhat annoyed naturally brown haired woman said with a huff. 

She could sense Josh’s annoyance in her not asking him about going out to dinner. Nothing needed to be said as he communicated his words through his eyes and body language.'

Josh stood there looking at Rebecca with his arms crossed and a displeased look on his face. 

The irritated woman studied his composure. Yes, she could tell he was annoyed with her, but at the time, she didn’t much care. 

“Why do you care if I go out to dinner with him on Friday? Are you afraid of him? Me? Of what either he or I will do? Or are you jealous?” Rebecca challenged. 

Now it was Josh’s turn to get annoyed. He was silent for a few moments. 

“Yes! Alright I admit it; I do care if the two of you go out on Friday for dinner! There, are you happy I said it? Geez! Yes I’m afraid of what either he or you will or won’t do. I don’t trust the guy. I don’t know what his intentions are. He could be your friend, true, but he could also be some slime ball jerk who preys on younger women.” Josh yelled back at her.

Rebecca then started to laugh. 

“What the heck is so funny?” Josh sneered.

“Oh my gosh, you are jealous!” she exclaimed.

“I’m not jealous. What would I have to be jealous of?” Josh shot back.

“You’re jealous that I am spending more time talking to Justin than I am with you. And you’re scared that Justin would intentionally try to take advantage of me. Yeah Justin may be older than me, but I think he’s smart enough to know not to take advantage of me. I’ve known him long enough to know that he’d never do that! Or do you think I’m just too naïve to see that?” Rebecca yelled back.

Josh sighed and ran his hands through his hair. 

“Look, I don’t think your naïve, I think you just have to be aware of people’s intentions, that’s all. I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.” the brown eyed singer said as he tried to calm himself.

He continued on, “Yes, I’ll admit that I’m jealous of him, that you were and will be spending more time with him than with me. This holiday isn’t about hanging out with old friends, it’s about us!” Josh exclaimed as he started to get frustrated again.

“My God Josh, please forgive me for wanting to hang out with an old friend! Should I call and cancel? Is that what you want? Because I’ll happily do it!” Rebecca yelled in irritation and sarcasm. 

“No! I don’t want you to cancel dinner. I just want…” he trailed off.

The weary man sighed and leaned against the car and looked into Rebecca’s green eyes and spoke. “I just want us to be us again. I miss that. All we ever do is argue and fight anymore. I hate it. But I don’t know what to do.” 

Rebecca hesitantly wrapped her arms around Josh’s waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry Josh. If you really want me to, I’ll call and cancel.” she said with a sad look in her eyes.

“No, I’m sorry. I was being a jerk for saying those things. I don’t know why I’m so cautious of Justin, maybe it’s his age or his demeanor, but there’s something about him that rubs me the wrong way. But that’s something that I have to deal with, not you. So please don’t put off your dinner plans for me, okay? Let’s just spend the rest of our time together?” Josh told her as he kissed her head and smiled.

While in the car, Rebecca quietly as she could with her phone on silent, texted Justin with her address. She was very happy that things between her and Josh were good again.   
Both emotionally tired, they got into the car, and drove home, where they snuggled in bed and fell asleep. 

Over the next two days Josh and Rebecca enjoyed their time together going out for romantic dinners, taking in various sport events, going to the zoo and doing other fun activities together. Things it seemed were back on track for the couple, or so it seemed. 

On Thursday night while eating dinner at their apartment, Rebecca asked Josh, “So honey, what do you think of Justin?”  
She had wanted to know the answer to this question that she had asked him earlier after they had left the pizza restaurant earlier in the week and at the time Josh hadn’t given her an answer.

“Justin seems like a pretty good guy to me. The two of you seem to have a good friendship. Don’t you find it a bit strange at how old he is? I mean, he’s old enough to be your dad!” Josh exclaimed.

“Yeah so Justin’s older than me, so what? Like you don’t have friendships with people older than you? What about David Foster? Heck he’s older than Justin!” Rebecca defended.  
After musing about this for a few moments, Josh said, “Yeah I guess you have a point there. Still, don’t you find it weird that Justin is contacting you after all these years? Do you really think dinner on Friday, is really just dinner?” Josh questioned. 

Rebecca was starting to get annoyed by Josh’s attitude. 

“I’m not as stupid as I look Josh! It’s just dinner between two friends! Why are you bringing this back up again?” Rebecca angrily threw down her fork onto her plate.  
“Because I’m scared for you! Okay? I’m worried that as good of a friend as you say he is, he still has ulterior motives.” Josh yelled angrily as he tossed his used napkin onto the table. 

“Ulterior motives? Nice word choice Josh! Just so you know, Justin and I already had this talk years ago, before I met you. We both knew it wouldn’t work between us. Yes, we flirted with the idea, but when push came to shove, we came to our senses and logically talked it out. In the end, we decided to be friends and that’s all we are! Are you satisfied now?! Maybe this’ll give you another reason to hate Justin so much! Don’t deny it either. I know you don’t like him, even if you try to pretend that you do!” the angry woman stood up and walked away from the table without another word and into their bedroom, closed the door and cried. 

Josh sat in his chair stunned. He was shocked at the revelation that she had just told him. His first reaction was to be mad, mad at whom? Justin for flirting with her? Rebecca for flirting back? Both of them for even thinking of having a relationship? Should he be mad at Rebecca for her not telling him this until now? 

He couldn’t think straight. Josh quietly cleared the table and put the dirty dishes in the sink. 

Josh knew that going and trying to talk with Rebecca while she was angry wasn’t the best choice, so instead he went into the room where he had a synthesizer and piano bench set up. He had had them both shipped from the States to London, so he could have a chance to play. 

The angry and confused man could hear the love of his life crying and it broke his heart. He wanted so badly to go in and comfort her, but he knew that now wasn’t the right time. They both needed to be alone with their thoughts and emotions. 

Josh sat down and fingered the black and white keys. He turned on the synthesizer and watched it come alive. Once it was powered up and he had set the controls to where he wanted them, he began to play and sing.

I can’t understand it  
The search for an answer is met with a darker day  
And we’ve been handed these moments forever  
But I’m reassured there’s another way

You don’t have to close your eyes  
There is room for love again  
Ease the pain to realize all that love can be  
Forced apart by time and sand  
Take a step and take my hand  
And don’t let go  
Never let go

Broken, once connected  
We were so strong and so blessed in a simple way  
So don’t let me go it alone

Turn your head up to the sky  
Nothing down below but me  
Face the truth to realize all that we could be  
Torn apart by rage and fear  
Hold onto what brought you here  
Don’t let it go  
Never let go 

Josh put all of the hurt, anger, confusion, and emotion into every single word and note. By the end of the song, he had tears running down his face and could barely finish the last line. The song emphasized everything that he was feeling at that moment: confusion at how they had gotten to this point, anger, being broken both emotionally and mentally. The second verse in particular just tore at him. The singer felt as if they were broken and he was scared. Scared of what? He wasn’t sure, but Josh knew he was shaken by all of this.  
He looked up to the doorway as he heard a sniffle.

Rebecca had come out of their bedroom once he began playing and had watched the entire performance from the doorway. It broke her heart to see Josh in such pain. 

Neither of them spoke for a while, they just stayed in their respective places, both unsure of what the other wanted. Josh stared into space and Rebecca stared at the floor.   
Time passed, neither of them knew how much time, nor cared. 

“Josh…that was powerful and beautiful. You made me cry. I don’t know what else to say…” she said as she stood in the doorway and continued to sniffle. 

The emotional singer was silent for some time. His brown eyes were still damp from crying. He hoped he said the next words carefully.  
'  
“Rebecca.” he said softly. The silent woman didn’t say a word.  
“Rebecca look at me, please.” he said as emotion took hold of his voice.   
She finally put her head up and looked into his beautiful brown eyes.   
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier Rebecca? That you and Justin almost had a relationship? I don’t understand.” the weary singer said.  
The tired woman sighed and replied. “Josh…there’s nothing to understand. All Justin and I are, are friends. Yeah we flirt and joke around, but that’s just how we are. Sorry I yelled at you. Are you mad at me for not telling you?” 

“Yeah I guess I am sort of mad. Mad that you didn’t tell me this until now. Although I don’t see how it makes any difference now, you know?” he sighed.  
“I guess I’m just confused about everything, that’s all.” he continued. 

“So, where do we go from here?” Rebecca questioned in a soft, unsure voice.

A moment or two passed before Josh spoke. “I think we try to do the best we can. We just have to be more open and honest with each other about our past. Yes, I forgive you.”  
Little did this couple know that the notion of being open and honest with each other would come back to haunt them in the near future. 

“Come here.” he said coaxing her over to the bench. He could see she was still sad. 

The timid woman sat down next to Josh and he gently hugged her, while stroking her hair.

After a few moments, she looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you.” she spoke.

“What was that song you played earlier?” she asked as she leaned against him with her head on his shoulder.

“You liked it? It was called ‘Never Let Go’. Do you want me to play it again?” he questioned.

She nodded her head. He smiled at her and began to sing and play and she watched as he closed his eyes. The fixated young woman watched as Josh sang every word and played every note with such power, and strong heartfelt emotion. By the end of the song, both Josh and Rebecca were crying. Crying because of the words they had said to each other, the hurt they inflicted, the confusion, anger, and sadness they both felt. 

Wordlessly, Josh got up from the bench, reached out his hand towards Rebecca which she accepted and together they walked from the music room into the bedroom. After they got dressed into their pajamas they held each other all night long, and whispered words of comfort and reassurance to each other. They fell asleep in each other’s arms hours later, both wondering what the future held for them. 

The next morning, Friday, the couple woke up feeling a little calmer and at peace with each other. At brunch, they talked and decided to spend the day together, before Rebecca went to dinner at 7pm. They lounged around the apartment in jeans and hoodies, and watched movies, played Guitar Hero, talked, read and just relaxed. It was something they both needed to do for and with each other, as a time to reconnect. 

Unfortunately for Josh and Rebecca, 7pm came way too quickly. Rebecca showered and dressed in a sexy black dress which she knew both Josh and Justin would love. Mostly Josh though, that was who she wore it for. 

A car horn honked outside their apartment and Rebecca with Josh standing next to her opened the door to see Justin standing there beside his turned off car in a very smart and sophisticated black suit. She had to admit that he looked good, really good. But as much as she loved a man in a black suit, she knew that Josh knew that he was the only one who looked the best in a black suit. 

Justin smiled at Rebecca and said in English, “Hi Rebecca. You look very nice. Are you ready to go?” 

“Thanks Justin. So do you. Let me just first say goodbye to Josh. I’ll see you outside in a few moments, okay?” Rebecca replied with a smile.

Justin nodded his head and closed the door and went back to his car and waited. Meanwhile inside, Josh wrapped his arms around Rebecca’s waist and looked at her.

“You’re beautiful you know that? I love you.” he told her with a passionate kiss. 

“I love you too baby.” Rebecca answered as she kissed him back. 

“While I’m gone, go out and have some fun. Go to a movie or something, okay?” she suggested.

“Maybe” Josh replied with yet another kiss. They both know he wouldn’t go out. He’d wait at home until she returned. She knew him that well. 

“Liar” she told him as she stuck her tongue out at him and grinned. 

“Go on and have some fun with Justin. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Josh told her with one last passionate kiss. 

“I love you Josh.” Rebecca told the man who held her heart as she kissed him back.

“I love you too Rebecca.” as he reluctantly let her go.

Rebecca opened the door and looked back at Josh and smiled once more. The singer smiled a smile at her that melted her heart every time. 

She turned and was gone and out the door. Josh watched her leave and his heart sank. He would wait right at home until she got back. He was always sad whenever she left to go someplace. It was like a part of him was missing. 

Over the next several hours, Josh waited anxiously for her to return. To kill time, he watched movies, played the piano, read, played Guitar Hero, and other things. The brown eyed singer even did what he said he wouldn’t do, he showered, dressed and went out to a movie and after that he went to dinner. The nervous man knew he needed to get out and do something as he waited for Rebecca to return! After dinner, Josh made his way back home to wait. He pulled into his driveway, driving a rental Porsche and realized that he had forgotten to get the paper from earlier in the day. He parked his car and flipped through the paper. He fixed himself a glass of red wine and sat down and waited. 

Meanwhile, Rebecca and Justin were at dinner. When they had gotten to the restaurant, their table wasn’t ready yet, so they sat at the bar and talked a while. Rebecca drank two Mai Tai’s and Justin had two Bourbon Sours. Rebecca knew from her last experience with drinking hard liquor that it only took one drink to get her a bit drunk. But she figured, she wasn’t driving home, so what was the harm in having more than one? But she kept her cool. Justin knew his own limits when it came to drinking hard liquor too, but he was good where he was at. The two friends were quite relaxed and enjoying each other’s company. 

After they paid for their drinks at the bar, they were finally seated and feeling quite happy. Both of them really enjoyed themselves, talking, laughing and reminiscing about old times. Justin talked about how, after that holiday in Italy, he traveled around Europe as a tour guide and then about 10 years ago or so, he moved back to London where he was currently working at a bank. 

Dinner was going very well for them both. They dined on fish, beef, various cheeses, risotto with asparagus, and selected vegetables. In between all of the eating and drinking, they shared a bottle of very nice red wine. For desert they ate Tiramisu, and they shared a cannoli. All in all, it was a very nice dinner, with no awkward silences, which they were both grateful for. 

At the end of dinner, with the bill paid, they sat at the table, a bit unsure of what to do. Both Rebecca and Justin were both quite drunk, from the wine and their cocktails at the bar. 

Justin smiled at Rebecca and said in English. “Do you remember the conversation we started all those years ago in Italy? That one night when we were sitting in the lounge drinking desert wine and talking?”

“How could I forget that? I’ll admit you sent my head reeling with all sorts of thoughts and feelings!” she told him with a smile and a blush. 

Justin just laughed and smiled.

“I’d never had a man speak to me that way before. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that you were and are one charming, smooth, funny guy…then and now.” Rebecca told him with another smile.

“What can I say I’m a people pleaser!” he replied with a grin and a laugh. 

The somewhat inebriated woman just laughed and smiled. 

“So what do you say we go back and finish that conversation?” he replied with a sexy grin.

Rebecca was at the point where she was too drunk to care, smiled a sexy, flirty smile and said, “When do we leave?”

Justin, who was also too drunk to care, leaned over the table and gently kissed her cheek and said, “How about right now?”

Rebecca kissed his cheek and said, “That sounds perfect.”

They got up, collected their belongings and headed out the door. Both of them stumbled a bit as they got outside, so they wrapped their arms around each other’s waist to keep the other one from falling to the ground. They were all smiles and laughter. 

A paparazzi photographer who recognized Rebecca, who had come out of the restaurant, started taking pictures of her and the man beside her.  
He walked up to her and asked, “Rebecca, who’s this man with you? Where is Josh?” 

“This is Justin. We met many years ago and just recently met again. He took me out to dinner! Josh is at home, waiting for me.” she said with a loud drunken laugh.

“Isn’t he a wonderful guy?” she continued on.

“Justin, what’s your relationship with Rebecca?” the photographer questioned.

“I’m a very good friend of Rebecca’s.” he replied as he kissed her on the cheek, who had turned to look at Justin as he said this and Justin ended up kissing her on the lips instead.  
Unbeknownst to the two drunken people, the photographer got a picture of just this moment.

Unphased by this lapse in judgment, Rebecca wrapped her arms around Justin’s neck and kissed him deeper, who in turn returned the kiss. The photographer kept on taking pictures.

A few moments later, Rebecca turned to Justin and said in Italian, “Usciamo da qui e ritorni al. Suo appartamento.”  
A few moments later, Rebecca turned to Justin and said in Italian, (“Let's get out of here and go back to your apartment.”)

Justin smiled once more and replied in Italian, “Andiamo e finisca quello che noi cominciammo, possiamo?”  
Justin smiled once more and replied in Italian, (“Let’s go and finish what we started, shall we?”)

Rebecca grinned and leaned up and kissed Justin once more on the lips and said in Italian, “Lei conduce, ed io seguirò bambino.”  
Rebecca grinned and leaned up and kissed Justin once more on the lips and said in Italian, (“You lead, and I’ll follow baby.”)

“It was so nice to talk to you, but we’ve got to get going.” Justin said with a smile and kiss on the cheek to Rebecca.

“Where are you going?” the photographer asked as they started to leave.

“We’re headed back to his apartment for some um..what are we going to do there Justin?” Rebecca asked as she ran her free hand up and down his chest seductively.   
“That’s for me to know and you to find out!” Justin said with a wink and a sexy smile.

“Ooo, I love it when you get all mysterious! Lead the way!” she cried out as they left the photographer in the dust who continued to take pictures of the drunken people as they stumbled down the street.

They hailed a cab and within minutes were at Justin’s apartment. Justin paid and soon they were inside his apartment. 

The moment the front door was closed and locked, Justin had Rebecca up against it and he was kissing her frantically. She too was responding to his kisses, moaning loudly and kissing him back just as he kissed her. It was a very hot and heavy make out session for them both. Rebecca soon found her dress shoes off and her dress was all rumpled, not that she cared. Justin soon found his dress jacket on the floor, his tie loosened and thrown someplace and his shirt rumpled and some of the buttons were undone. Their hair was crazy and wild due to each of them running their hands through the others. Neither of them cared though. 

“Rebecca, baby, do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” he said in between kisses.

“No, please tell me.” she said as she continued to kiss him back.

“Way too long!” he said as he kissed her deeply.

“Well then, let’s not wait any longer, shall we?” she said as she looked into his eyes and grinned and saw the desire there.

“I love the way you think!” he said as he kissed her again.

He took her hand and led her to his bedroom. They stood in the doorway. 

He smiled at her and said, “Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Of course! Does this tell you anything?” she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him as passionately as she could.

Justin moaned loudly and kissed her back.

He looked into her eyes and saw desire and wanting there.

“Let’s not waste another moment, baby.” he said as he took her hand and led inside the bedroom.

They proceeded to strip each other of their remaining clothes and have sex many times through the night. Even though they were both very drunk, they were smart enough to remember to use a condom. They might have been stupid enough to have sex, but not stupid enough to not remember to use a condom. 

The drunken lovers/friends fell into each other’s arms in a mixture of sweat, and bed sheets in the early morning hours, right before the sun came up. Little did either of them know that the paparazzi photographer whom they had met earlier in the night had followed them to Justin’s apartment and had taken intimate, detailed and very close up pictures of the two lovers all throughout the night. As they fell asleep in the early morning hours, the photographer left the apartment and took the pictures to get developed and then to the local newspaper. This would be all over the morning edition of the newspaper within a few hours.

In the meantime, Josh was going crazy with worry. When Rebecca hadn’t come home at midnight, he began to be troubled. The somewhat frantic man had called Rebecca’s cell phone several times leaving messages each time. It was uncommon for her to turn off her phone. She didn’t ever do that and that upset him even more. To try and calm himself in the meantime, Josh called his family and spoke his parents and his younger brother Chris who did their best to reassure the concerned man that Rebecca was just fine. It did little to calm his fears.

That night, Josh didn’t get any sleep. He paced through his house, worrying and wondering what could have happened. To calm himself down, he opened a bottle of red wine and proceeded to, while he paced, to drink the entire thing. The wine only increased his anxiety.

It wasn’t until early the next morning around 6:30am when he went to get the newspaper that he found out what had happened with Rebecca. He hadn’t slept the entire night and figured he might as well go and try to do something productive like read the morning paper. It was raining outside and Josh stood outside his apartment wearing the same clothes from the day before, wearing his glasses from the day before, holding in one hand the newspaper and in the other a bottle of water, trying to flush out the wine from his body. He was a bit hung over. 

Blurry eyed from being hung over, lack of sleep and anxiety, it took him a few moments to read and comprehend what was written on the front page. 

When Josh came to his senses and saw the headline of the newspaper that read, “Rebecca with mystery man Justin, lover or friend?” The sub headline read, “Where was Josh? What does he think?” He was flabbergasted to say the least! 

The startled young man did his best to read the article in the state that he was in.   
Following the headline was a summary of the conversation between Justin, Rebecca and the photographer and included a brief history on Justin and speculation as his relationship with Rebecca. Also in the article was how Rebecca and Justin had just done out to dinner and were more than drunk. Included were several pictures of Rebecca and Justin kissing as well as close up, intimate shots of the two of them having sex.

Josh was shocked to say the least! He dropped the bottle of water he was drinking and stared at the pictures.

His first thought was ‘Oh my Gosh! That was why she didn’t answer her phone last night! She was too busy screwing Justin! Why would she do this?”

Anger consumed him and he let out a frustrated yell into the early morning air. 

Emotions whirled around in his mind: anger, confusion, sadness, hurt etc. He couldn’t think straight. He looked again at the pictures and he felt his heart shatter. He shivered in the cold morning air. He didn’t feel the tears run down his face.

The distraught young man grabbed the bottle of water from the ground, and with both of them in hand; he walked back into his apartment. He had to keep a level head about this. The clearly upset and hung over man sat down and took a few deep breaths to try and compose himself. The brown eyed singer mentally did the math and realized the late hour it was at home, around 10:30pm. However, he picked up the phone and dialed his home number. 

“Sorry for calling at such a weird hour. Mom, but I really need to talk to you…” Josh said his voice trailing off.'

Josh’s mom, Lindy, answered the phone and could tell that something was wrong as she was greeted by silence. Josh usually was cheerful and happy whenever he called.   
“Josh, honey, what’s wrong?” she asked him. 

Josh sniffled a few times and then said. “It’s over.”

“What’s over Josh?” his mom questioned, unsure of what he was referring to.

“It’s over between Rebecca and I.” Josh went on to say.

“What do you mean Josh?” his mother continued to ask.

Josh proceeded to tell his mom about the article, the pictures, everything.

In the end, Lindy said. “Now Josh, listen to me, okay? Don’t do anything irrational. You need to calm down and stay level headed. Okay? Just talk it through with Rebecca.”  
Josh didn’t answer for a few moments.

“Josh, are you still there? Does she know this?” the concerned mother asked.

“Yeah mom, I’m here. No she doesn’t know. She hasn’t come home yet. ” he said.

“Do you need me to come out there?” she asked.

“No mom, I’ll be fine. I just need to clear my head and calm down. I still haven’t talked to Rebecca or seen her since last night. So we’ll see how it all goes. Thanks for listening and for the talk. I love you.” Josh said with a sad smile.

“I love you too Josh. Call us if you need anything, okay? We’re here if you need anything.” she said.

“I will mom. Tell dad and Chris I love them. Bye mom.” the singer said he hung up the phone.

“Bye Josh and yes I’ll tell them.” she replied as hung up the phone. Lindy proceeded to go and tell Chris what had happened. The two brothers were extremely close, as was Josh and his dad whom she told next.

The concerned family members respected their son’s wishes and didn’t fly out to see him. However, they prayed earnestly for both Josh and Rebecca that they would be able to work through this monumental disaster. Prayer was a huge part of Josh’s family. It was something that they relied on heavily to get them through the good and bad times. 

Josh now felt calmer after he had talked to his mom. He smiled slightly. His mom always knew just what to say to calm him down and make him feel better. He sighed and looked at the clock and saw that it was 7:30am and he figured that Rebecca would be coming home soon. He may as well make the best of the time he had. 

The brown haired singer with unruly curls first made a pot of very strong coffee. He sat at his kitchen table quietly drinking his coffee. He had a plan forming in his mind of how to deal with this situation. 

In the meantime, Rebecca and Justin slowly begin to wake up from their drunken stupor from the night before. They both have terrible hangovers, Rebecca more so than Justin. The young woman moaned incoherently as she struggled to find her bearings. The first thing she realized as she opened her eyes was that her head felt like it was in a vice and the light shining into the bedroom only made things worse. 

After several minutes of lying in bed, the woman managed to open her eyes again and look around. Slowly she took in her surroundings: the sun coming in through the window, the rumpled bed sheets, and the clothes on the floor, not to mention the snoring, still passed out man who was naked next to her! 

The exhausted woman stared in the direction of the sleeping man as her eyes worked their way once again around the room. Her eyes landed on the few empty condom wrappers that lay on the bedside table. 

‘What happened last night? We didn’t…? Did we? Oh damn this isn’t good! My head hurts like hell!’ Rebecca thought as she stared at the bedside table.  
She continued to stare as she heard a noise beside her. The confused and very hung over woman looked at the man beside her who was now opening his eyes and moaning in pain.

The gray haired man slowly opened his eyes and said in English. “Happy to see me, love?” 

In an angry tone she replied, “Hell no I’m not happy to see you! What happened last night?”

“Calm down Rebecca, there’s no need to yell. Who the hell let the sun shine so bright?” he said as he winced and covered his head with his arm.'

“Calm down? You want me to calm down?! I can’t even remember what happened last night!” she continued on in an angry rant.

Justin winced once more and uncovered his eyes and said. “You mean you can’t remember how amazing last night was? You were phenomenal!” he said with a sexy grin.  
“Last night…I was what?” she sputtered. She lay next to him as the bed sheets covered her body.   
'  
Justin just smiled at her once more as he took in her appearance. Her hair was all askew and she looked wonderful to him. 

The older man decided to take a chance and go for it. 

He propped himself up on his elbow and grinned at her. Rebecca meanwhile fumed like crazy. She was confused, angry, scared, and had a pounding head.

“Like I said before. You. Were. Phenomenal.” With each word Justin said, he moved from where he was, propped up on his elbow to positioning himself above her and kiss down her body.

Rebecca who was still too hung over felt powerless to stop this man from kissing her. 

Justin had kissed his way down to her stomach before the realization hit her as to what he was doing and trying to do. She’d be lying if she didn’t say that she wasn’t turned on.   
The shocked and scared young woman got up as quickly as her aching head would allow her from the bed and started to put on her clothes frantically.  
“Whoa Rebecca, what’s the rush? I thought we could you know…finish what we started last night.” Justin said with a sexy smile.

The woman had a look of anger in her eyes and yelled loudly. “Shut up Justin! Just shut up! Now I want to hear the truth! What happened last night?”  
Justin sighed and smiled as he stood naked before her. 

“How can you not remember last night?” he questioned.

A stare was all he got in response.

“Look, alright. Last night got a little crazy and we ended up having sex…a lot. But don’t worry we were smart and used condoms. Anyway, who’s going to find out?” he told her.  
He continued on. “Like I said before, last night, you were phenomenal! Want to go at it again?”

The only response he got was a hard, stinging slap to the face. The older man wasn’t prepared for it. So he was knocked on his butt and fell back onto the bed.  
Rebecca stood over him as he lay on the bed and said in a quiet, but deadly angry voice. 

“You prick! How could you do this?! You used me! Some friend you are!”  
“Used you? Oh no baby, it was all consensual. Hell, you practically threw yourself at me!” he responded.

Justin started to get up off the bed and Rebecca said, “Justin, I swear if you know what’s good for you, you won’t come any closer. If you do, I swear to God you’ll end up in a world of hurt, got that?” her eyes full of anger and fury. He knew not to mess with a woman who was that mad at him. 

The older man stayed on the bed and watched her gather the rest of her things. Once this was done and the woman was dressed, she turned to Justin and said, “I’m calling a cab. I never ever want to see you again. I hate you. This twisted thing or whatever we had is over! Goodbye!” That was all she had to say.

The still naked man covered himself with a bed sheet and watched as she walked out of his bedroom and called a cab with his home phone. Moments later, the cab was at his apartment and she was gone. Justin sat up and ran his hands through his hair. If he was honest with himself, he’d tell himself that he was a total and utter asshole to do this to Rebecca. Not that he forced her to have sex with him, but the whole taking advantage of her thing. He hated himself for it and for loosing her friendship. Justin was now no longer a part of Rebecca’s life.

While Justin thought about his stupidity in his bedroom, Rebecca sat in the cab. The woman had said nothing to the driver other than her address. She felt nothing, no emotion what so ever. She watched as the rain pelted the window and watched at how the outside went on living while she was dying inside, or so it seemed. The green eyed woman thought as she sat in the moving car, ‘How in the hell did I let this happen? Did I let myself be so vulnerable and stupid?! I was an idiot to think that all Justin wanted was dinner! How could I be this naïve? To let him take advantage of me when I’d been drunk! Much less have sex! Holy crap, what have I done?! What will Josh say? Will he still love me? ’   
Other thoughts ran through the shocked and now quite sober woman’s head. The tired young woman looked at her watch expecting it to say that it was around 9:00a.m. She was shocked to see that it was 2 hours later! 

‘Where did all this time go to? Did that argument with Justin really take that long? Oh my Gosh! What is Josh going to think if and when he sees me coming in at this time in the morning? What the hell was I thinking?! You stupid, stupid woman!’ Rebecca thought to herself as she looked her watch. She cursed herself again, not at all wanting to go home. If she was honest with herself, she was scared to go home. Not scared because of what Josh would do, she knew that he’d never ever physically hurt her. She was more shaken by how he would react: what he would say and feel. That scared her more than anything. Needless to say, she was wracked with guilt. Every block they passed made the lump in her throat that much harder to swallow. 

While the green eyed woman sat in the cab, Josh still sat at his kitchen table. The water he drank now tasted stale. He sighed, frustrated with himself because even after all this time he’d spent thinking, he still had no plan in his mind on how to deal with this. 

Josh didn’t want Rebecca to see him like this, so being a smart guy, he quickly brushed his teeth, and hair and sat down at the kitchen table once again. This time he had a fresh cup of coffee beside him and staring at him from the newspaper was the reason why he was the way he was. He hated it, all of it! He slammed his hand on the table and cursed loudly as hot coffee spilled all over his hand. Josh quickly got up and ran it under cold water. Then he poured out his coffee and poured another cup of coffee and waited and waited.

It still rained outside. The rain that was soft early this morning had now turned into a heavy downpour. Having lived in London for quite some time now, he had gotten used to the rainy weather. Today, he mused would be one of those down pour kind of days.

‘Well, isn’t that just wonderful, the weather matches my mood.’ the brown eyed, depleted and sad man thought to himself as he drank his coffee.'

He looked again at the clock just like he had done for the past, however long he had sat at the kitchen table for. 

Just then, he heard a car pull in the driveway. A few moments later the door opened and she came in. 

For the longest time, neither of them spoke. They just stared at each other. 

Rebecca looked at Josh and she had to admit to herself that he looked like hell. His usually full of life brown eyes were dull and lifeless. His hair, though brushed look in disarray, his clothes were rumpled and his skin looked dull and lifeless. Usually Josh had a smile on his face whenever she came home, but not today. Today he had a face that showed little to no emotion, but his eyes spoke volumes. His eyes spoke of hurt, pain, betrayal, anger more so than she had ever seen before and so many other emotions. Rebecca watched as he drank his coffee, not caring that he had spilled some on his shirt. 

From his seated chair, Josh looked at Rebecca. He watched as she shivered from the cold rain that had soaked her skin, or was it nerves? Her once beautiful black dress looked now to be one big giant mess; it was soaked with rain, and unkempt. Her usual beautiful hair was soaking wet, and messy. Rebecca’s green eyes, that were typically bright and vibrant, were looking at him, but he could also see the guilt, sadness, apprehension, shame, and hurt in her eyes. As the man sat and watched he could have sworn he saw tears run down her face, but that could have been the water that soaked her hair and ran down her face. 

After several long, uncomfortable minutes, Rebecca spoke first, “Josh…I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” she said her voice filled with emotion which threatened to undo her. 

“You’re sorry? You’re sorry!? Saying sorry, is apologizing for stepping on someone’s foot, or for burning a cake in the oven. No, this isn’t sorry. This is a colossal fuck up!” he yelled at her as he stood up angrily.

Rebecca was taken aback. It was very rare that Josh ever cursed. The young woman looked at the man in front of her with a scared look in her eyes. Josh saw it too and for a moment he debated within himself to calm down, but he was too irate to do any different. 

“I’m sorry Josh. I…I didn’t mean to do this. To hurt you like I have! Please believe me! I didn’t plan for any of this to happen, honest! Maybe I’m just being naïve and stupid, but I honestly thought that all this was was dinner with Justin. Nothing more and nothing less.” she said as she stood before him crying. 

Josh took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down. He knew he needed to get control of his emotions before the fighting got any worse. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t calm himself down; he too wound up, too angry to hurt to stay calm!

Neither of them spoke after several moments. But when they did, Josh was the one to speak first. 

“Rebecca…” Josh said as he felt himself start to tear up.

“Why did you? How could you hurt me like that? How could you throw away everything we had together after all these years? I hate that you’ve done this! You betrayed my trust in you…in us! I knew I shouldn’t have let you go out with this guy! I knew that he had some ulterior motives! That jerk!” Josh yelled as he felt himself getting more and angrier, not only at Rebecca for what she had done, but at Justin for what he had done too.

“You know what’s worse? I found out not from you, but from the newspaper! You didn’t even have the decency to tell me yourself! Do you even know how worried I was? I waited up all night for you to come home! I called your cell phone and left tons of messages!” the angry man continued on.

“Josh, I…” she began to say.

The angry man began to ramble on again, his emotions taking control.

“JOSH! SHUT UP AND LISTEN!” she screamed at him.

Now it was Josh’s turn to be taken aback. In all of their years together, he had never ever seen her this angry. Not even when she slapped him that one him in the hotel room.  
“Listen to me!” she said with tears running down her face. 

“I never ever planned this at all!” she spat at him in anger.

“I never planned on getting drunk or kissing Justin or him taking me back to his apartment or for us to have sex! Do you think I planned for any of this shit to happen? For you to find out the way you did? No! I was going to come home and tell you! Instead of letting me talk to you about this, you immediately jumped on me and started yelling at me!” she screamed at him in anger.

“Oh and just for the record, I never wanted to have sex with Justin anyway, I was drunk and stupid to think straight. I was planning to save myself for you. Did you ever think that that was why I never fully gave myself to you?” she said in a calmer voice with tears running down her face.

“Oh great! So suddenly all of this is my fault now?! It’s my fault that I didn’t let you tell me what happened? Oh that’s just rich coming from you Rebecca!” he spat back at her in a sarcastic voice.

“You know what? I’m tired of all of this shit! I don’t know how much more of this I can take! You want to know something else? I don’t know if I can do this anymore…If I can do ‘us’ anymore. All we ever do now is fight and argue. That’s all we’ve done for a while now and I don’t know if I have it in me to fight for us anymore.” he continued on, defeated sounded in his voice.

They were both quiet for a long while, each lost in their own thoughts, in what the other had said.

Rebecca spoke first. “So Josh, if I get this straight. You’ve put all this time and effort and love in our relationship and because of this screw up that I admittedly did, you don’t know if you want to fight for ‘us’ anymore? Is that what you’re saying? What do I have to do to show you how sorry I am? That I love you and I want to make this work? Why do we have to do this the hard way? Why can’t you see how sorry I am for everything I did that hurt you and that I’m begging you to give ‘us’ another chance?” she pleaded with him as she fell to her knees and cried openly at his feet.

Josh who under normal circumstances would have been deeply touched by this, was, at the moment, a swirling mass of emotions, namely he was numb to all that he had said, heard, and experienced within the last several hours but primarily within the last several minutes of this tense, emotional argument.   
'  
The numb man left the woman crying on the floor and walked out of the room he was in and into the music room where his synthesizer was. Josh also kept a guitar, either an acoustic or electric in the room on the chance that he was in the mood to play it. Today was one of those days where the mood struck and he picked up the guitar, tuned it and began to play nothing in particular. The gloomy man looked outside as the rain continued to fall. 

By this time, Rebecca had stopped crying. She felt like a fool for falling to her knees and crying in front of Josh like that. She heard music coming from the music room and knew that that was where Josh went when he needed to be alone to think. Unsure of what to do, Rebecca picked herself up off the floor. She sighed and ran a hand through her tangled hair. She was a mess in more way than one. But if she was honest with herself, she wasn’t sure of where to go from here. Were her and Josh still together? Broken up? Her mind was a jumble of words and emotions and she couldn’t tell one from the other at this point. The only thing she knew for sure was that she wanted to get out of these clothes. Then maybe they could talk this out. 

As quietly as she could as to not to disturb Josh, she mad her way from where she was into the bathroom where she quickly showered. Then she dressed in comfortable blue jeans, a forest green long sleeve shirt with a design on it, and New Balance tennis shoes and white socks and her contacts. She brushed her teeth a few times and used mouth wash over and over. Then she fixed her hair the best she could. She was dressed in clothes that she knew Josh loved. After all, it was the least she could do. She said a silent prayer and then walked out of the room she was in.

The somewhat refreshed woman sat down on their living room couch, and let the quiet envelope her. She wondered what Josh was doing. Lost in thought, her ears perked up when she heard no more music coming from the room. 

‘Is that a good or bad sign? Should I say something or let him speak? Jeez, I don’t know what to do!’ she thought as she sighed once again. 

In the meantime, Josh had paid attention only to his guitar playing, if it could be called that. He sometimes just liked to tinker around and play nothing. He wanted to do something that expressed how he felt. He then remembered a song that his producer had pitched to him a few days ago, it was written by two songwriters in Nashville and David Foster thought that it would be perfect for Josh’s next CD. Josh got settled into his seat, tuned his guitar and began to sing and play. The brown haired singer just hoped that Rebecca could hear what he was saying.

You've got your own way of looking at it baby  
I guess that proves that I got mine  
Seems like our hearts are set on automatic  
We say the first thing that comes to mind  
It's just who we are baby, we've come too far to start over now  
I know what you're thinkin' ; I'm not always easy to be around  
(Chorus)  
But I do love you  
You keep me believin' that you love me too  
And I know it's true  
This love drives us crazy but nobody's walkin' away  
So, I guess we'll to do it the hard way  
If I had a genie in a bottle  
Three wishes I could wish for us  
I wish we'd live forever and get along together  
Turn these tempers into trust  
(Chorus)  
Do it the hard way  
It's just who we are baby, we've come to far to start over now  
Believe me tonight love's the one thing in life we can't live without  
(Chorus)  
Do it the hard way  
The hard way

The song ended and Josh put the guitar down and sat in the music room lost in thought. The more emotionally numb he was, the more his mind raced back to all that was said and heard and yelled in their anger and hurt. What were they? Were they still a couple? Just friends? His mind raced with lots of questions and no answers. He sighed outwardly. If he was honest with himself, he knew that they needed to figure something out, where they went from here mostly. He also knew that he needed to shower and get clean.   
Josh got up from where he sat and peeked outside the room, he saw that Rebecca was lost in thought once more. He did his best to move from the music room to the bathroom. He quickly showered, brushed his teeth and rinsed with mouth wash a few times. Next he dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, a gray long sleeve shirt with a logo on it and his Cons and he wore his contacts and fixed his unruly hair. The clean looking man was dressed in clothes that he knew Rebecca loved, he could at least do that much. After assessing himself in the mirror of the bathroom, he took a deep breath, said a silent prayer and went out to where she sat.

The woman who was lost in thought looked up as she heard Josh walk in the room and sat down on the opposite end of the couch. 

Neither adult spoke for a while, each of them waited anxiously for the other to start speaking. Rebecca spoke first. 

“What was that song you were playing and singing earlier? I only heard part of it as I was thinking a lot. From what I heard it was beautifully sad.” she told him with fresh tears in her eyes.  
'  
“Is that how you really feel about us baby?” she questioned him.

“It’s written by two Nashville songwriters; David sent it to me and thought it would be great for my next CD. It’s called “The Hard Way”. And yes that’s really how I feel. I’m tired of this! I’m tired of everything! Your cheating, the hurt, the pain, the anger!” the man spoke as he continued to get more and more agitated. 

Angrily, Josh stormed out the room and went and grabbed his guitar. He then quickly sat down again and stared at her and spoke, “You want to hear it again? Here it is!”  
Then he began to sing and play the song once more. Emotion filled his voice, mostly anger, hurt, despair, dejection and grief in knowing that all that he once had with Rebecca was now gone.

The final note sounded and the two adults looked at each other. Josh had a look of pure loathing and deep hurt in his deep brown eyes and Rebecca’s eyes held a look of deep sadness and sorrow and gloom. The young woman spoke.

“I told you how I feel and how sorry I am and Josh trust me, if I could I would go back in time so that none of this happened ever! Why can’t you believe me?!” she pleaded with him as she cried once more.

“I can’t believe that you would do something like that to me! What the hell were you thinking?! Oh wait! You weren’t thinking because you were too drunk to think straight! I find it hard to believe that you didn’t want to have sex with Justin. From the photos I’ve seen you two were all over each other!” he yelled at her as he stood up in anger and began to pace the room.

The enraged young woman stood up and stopped Josh right in his tracks with a hard slap to the face. This one hurt even more than when he had gotten slapped in the hotel room.  
“You bastard! How dare you say something like that! I can’t believe you’d say something like that! You really think that I wanted to have sex with Justin and cheat on you?! Do you really think I’m that dumb? Of course I didn’t want to cheat on you! Jeez you’re more stupid that I thought! Yes I was drunk and yes of course it was a stupid thing to do, and I’m sorry!” she hollered at him as she ran her hands through her hair in a frustrated manner. The frustrated woman began to cry. 

Not thinking about what he was about to say, Josh looked at her with tears in his eyes and a hurting red face and spoke. 

“It’s over Rebecca. I can’t do this anymore. I won’t allow you to ruin my life more than you already have. You need to pack your things and leave. I’m sorry that it has to end like this between us. I love you, but I have to let you go. I’m sorry.” Josh now stood in front of Rebecca with tears streaming down his face. 

The crying young man did something he hoped he would never regret. He pulled her close and with all the emotion he could muster he kissed her passionately one last time. It was a kiss full of hurt, anger, pain, suffering, love and tears. The two lovers kissed passionately, their tears mingled with each other. Still crying, Josh ended the kiss and wished with all his heart that he didn’t have to do this, to himself, to her and to them. But it was what needed to be done. 

The distraught young woman stood there, shocked and physically shaking from the news she had just received. The green eyed woman watched the man in front of her crumble like a ton of bricks. Nothing pained her more than to see Josh this devastated. At this point, she too was crying and nothing would or could stop her tears. 

Rebecca spoke first, “I guess this is goodbye then Josh. I love you and I’m so sorry.” she said with emotion thick in her voice.

With those last words spoken, Rebecca turned and left the room. Without a word spoken between them, she packed up her things, called a taxi and waited outside in the rain with her things. 

Josh stood in the doorway of their home and watched her things being packed into the taxi as the rain poured down. He stood in the doorway frozen in time; there was nothing he could do. The last image he ever saw of her was her climbing into the taxi and it pulling away. 

In the taxi, Rebecca had willed herself not to cry. The devastated young woman knew that if she looked back at Josh, she’d start to cry and so she kept facing forward. In her mind, the last image of Josh she would ever have in her mind was of him standing in front of her in their living room, crying. It killed her. Her life as she knew it was over. 

Inside the house, Josh watched the taxi pull away and then like a man in shock he fell to his knees and sobbed loudly. Josh didn’t know how long he stayed on the floor for, but that didn’t matter to him. When he finally got up, it was dark outside and still raining. He laughed bitterly as he looked out at the dreary, wet weather, ‘How fitting for it to be raining outside, since that’s how I feel right now.’ Josh thought. He still felt the tears stains on his face.

Something clicked inside and that one thought was turned over and over in his brain as Josh stood watching the rain fall down. He stood there mesmerized by the sights and sounds and with that words and images started coming to him. Not wanting to break his concentration, he quickly ran to the music room and sat down at the synthesizer, which was always on. Josh continued to look outside the window as words, images and emotions continued to come to him. 

The brown eyed man grabbed a pad of paper and a pen. The motivated man who usually wrote with his head first and his heart second, let his heart take over and let everything he was experiencing at that moment: the sight of the rain falling down, the sound of the thunder and lightening, and every emotion he was feeling to be poured into the words he wrote. 

Periodically, Josh glanced up from writing and looked outside and watched the rain fall down. Several minutes passed and in the end, Josh had written a beautifully haunting song, with dark lyrics which told the story of a love lost, and the immense pain and sadness and hurt he felt. At the top of the page he wrote, “Remember When It Rained”. ‘The perfect song title.’ Josh thought as he looked down at the lyrics he had just written. 

The songwriter who before he had written this song had no idea of how he wanted the song to sound, put his hands on the keys and the music and emotions poured out of him and he began to play and sing. 

Wash away the thoughts inside  
That keep my mind away from you  
No more love and no more pride  
And thoughts are all I have to do.

Remember when it rained  
I felt the ground and looked up high and called  
your name  
Remember when it rained  
In the darkness I remain

Tears of hope run down my skin  
Tears for you that will not dry  
They magnify the one within  
And let the outside slowly die

Remember when it rained  
I felt the ground and looked up high and called  
your name  
Remember when it rained  
In the water I remain

Running down…

Josh closed his eyes and let the song take him. By the time the last note had been played, he was emotionally drained; as tears fell freely from his deep, sad brown eyes. Weary from the emotional outpouring and physically rundown, the tearful man got up from where he sat, stumbled out of the music room and into his bedroom where he collapsed in the bed and promptly fell asleep. In spite of the outpouring of emotions he had just experienced the young man spent his time tossing and turning, reliving his life with Rebecca in his mind. 

If there was a hell, he was in it. 

The subsequent months and years that followed were misery for Josh, personally. In the weeks that followed, Josh sold the house in London, flew back to L.A. to spend time with his family for a week. On his own insistence, he profusely thanked his family for their comfort and support, but told them that he had to do this on his own. With that said he left their home and headed towards his own. 

And so, over the next several months, Josh was deeply depressed. It was in this time that he wrote numerous songs, many of which were filled with dark and gloomy lyrics. Surprisingly it was the writing of these songs which was the most therapeutic for him. Although the writing was therapeutic, it also served as a guilt-full reminder of everything he had wished he had told Rebecca. 

The miserable young man often relived in his mind every detail of that fateful day and how it all went wrong. The sad brown eyed man would often spend hours in his music room, sitting at his piano, over analyzing the day when Rebecca left him. Sometimes this one single thought of how it all went wrong and how he could have fixed it was the only thing, other than his faith in God that got him through the day. 

However that wasn’t to say that the support from his family and friends wasn’t appreciated. The young man was forever grateful to them for their support. If it wasn’t for them and his faith in God, Josh didn’t know where he would be. 

As the months went by, with the help of those around him, Josh slowly came out of his self-induced depression. In order to heal himself, he sought out the help of a private therapist who helped him in sorting out his feelings. It was very difficult for Josh, who was such a private person, to share his feelings and emotions of how the breakup had affected him. At first it was very hard for Josh to deal with these resurfacing emotions and once again he became emotionally numb for the first few months, not talking much to his family or close friends. 

They knew that he was doing what he could to help heal himself. The singer/songwriter had both good days and bad days. A ‘good day’ for Josh was to get out of bed, shower, and sit outside and let the sun shine on his face and only cry once or twice and maybe if he was feeling up to it, he would go and see his parents and brother. Those ‘good days’ weren’t often though. His family and friends understood that he needed time to heal; even so, they would still call and check up on him. 

Some nights, to deal with the emotional pain Josh would sometimes get drunk on wine he had stored in his home. The man knew that this wasn’t the way to deal with his emotions, but he needed to do something, anything to combat the memories of Rebecca that at times seemed to overwhelm his mind. There were many days and nights that all that he could recall was the taste of wine in his mouth and the pounding headache in his mind. During these alcohol induced hazes, if the man could permit himself, would write very bleak and somber songs. Other times when he was drunk, he would cry for hours. 

Josh’s parents and brother sensed that Josh was diving headfirst into a downward spiral with his drinking. They knew their son/brother enjoyed drinking socially, but it had gotten to the point where the man they once knew was now gone. Josh no longer took their phone calls or answered their voice mail messages. Usually on a ‘good day’ Josh would stop by their home for a short visit. But now those ‘good days’ were few and far between. None of the family members could remember the last time Josh stopped by for a visit, much less called them. Obviously they were all very worried and scared. 

All that remained now was the shell of the man they loved. They knew they needed to act quickly to get Josh the help he needed as well as quietly so he could get the treatment he needed privately. So with this resolve in mind, very early one morning they went over to Josh’s house. They found the young man passed out on his bed. They were shocked to say the least. The man they knew and loved was now skinny and had dark circles underneath his eyes. His beautiful round face was now gaunt. Once they made sure that he was okay, they roused him from his stupor. Later on that day, after Josh had sobered up, had showered and eaten, his three family members sat him down. His deep brown eyes, that were at one time bright and full of life, were now dull and almost dead looking. Something else they realized was that Josh had taken off the silver ring and silver bracelet which Rebecca had given him all those years ago. When he was questioned about it, Josh told them that he had put them away the day after they had broken up, along with everything else that reminded him of her. 

Each of them went on to explain to Josh how his drinking had not only affected his life, but theirs as well. The now sober young man listened as his parents and brother described their fear, sadness, desperation for wanting to help Josh, the many sleepless nights and worry. As hard as it was to hear, Josh knew he couldn’t keep going down this road. It was killing him and his family. The guilt, pain and shame that he felt were overpowering and Josh began to cry. His three loving family members gathered around him and held him as he cried. 

Hours passed as Josh cried, not only for himself, but for his family members as well. Eventually, Josh fell asleep in the loving and safe arms of his family. Over the next few days, they stayed with Josh, supporting him, talking with him, and helping him to realize the importance of being sober, to which Josh agreed. With the love and support of his family, and very close friends to whom he told what had happened, he checked into a private rehab facility. Unfortunately, the media caught wind of Josh’s drinking habit and rehab stint and blasted him for it. 

Everyone surrounding Josh supported him as he helped heal himself. Josh successfully completed the program. The singer wasn’t to be undeterred by the horrible press and the man posted a very short video blog on his website, thanking the fans for their unwavering support and love. He also thanked his family, friends and label. The singer apologized deeply over how this ordeal had affected him and those around him. The singer told his fans in his video blog, that he was in fact working on new music, to which his fans responded on his message board with posts of happiness, love and support. 

Over the two years, the brown haired man came to terms with himself, with all of the emotions and demons that he had been facing and dealing with since he broke up with Rebecca: his deep depression, guilt, shame, pain sadness, and his bout with drinking, to which Josh vowed never to do again. He had seen the pain it had caused his family and friends and he swore to himself he would never do that again. 

Josh felt that at last he was becoming whole again and that he could move on with his life. His family and close friends were happy to see this change in Josh. It made them smile to see him smiling once more. On one occasion, Josh was at his parent’s house for dinner, with his brother there as well and Chris was telling an embarrassing story about Josh and at the end of the story, Josh laughed. It wasn’t one of those fake laughs, but a deep laugh that made Josh smile from ear to ear. 

It was in that moment of laughter that Josh knew that he was going to be okay. The man knew that however deeply painful his breakup with Rebecca had been, Josh knew that he could move on without her in his life. Yes there would always be a place for her in his heart, but the man had come to the point in his life where he knew life without her was okay. His once shattered heart was on the mend. 

On a professional level, Josh who had always been in the spotlight did his best to keep a low profile in terms of reporters asking him about his break up with Rebecca. The media knew about their long term relationship and subsequent break up and Josh being the classy and respectful man that he was did his best to protect both his dignity and hers. The man sometimes wondered if she knew how, after the years that had passed how he had protected her. 

The media did their best to dig deeper into the why’s and how’s of their break up, and for a while it was all that was talked about. Time passed and they soon moved onto another star’s story, for which Josh was grateful. 

Josh’s team during this time supported him both personally and professionally. He was more than happy to have their help and encouragement, along with his family and close friends. 

Quite soon after Josh had broken up with Rebecca, he had posted a blog on his website, explaining that he needed time and space to deal with the situation and for his fans to please be respectful of how he, and his family were coping with the situation because after all Rebecca had been a part of their lives too. He went onto explain that he would also like them to be respectful of Rebecca and her family as well, and to not to look into anything that wasn’t true. The man also posted that he wasn’t sure when he would be putting out music, but when he did; they would be the first to know. The singer then thanked them all for their continued support and encouragement and love. 

In response to Josh’s blog, fans posted thousands of notes of support and love for Josh as he coped with this difficult time. They told him many times over that they would wait for as long as it took for Josh to heal himself and that they would be waiting for him and would receive him with open arms when the time came that he would release new music.   
These notes of support, love and prayers from his fans, along with that of his family, friends and team, his faith and seeing a therapist were what helped the young man to start to heal. 

Josh’s team and label had been very respectful of how he was feeling and for this time period and they didn’t pressure him to make albums or anything of that sort. It was during this two year self-induced hiatus that Josh had written a number of songs. The artist, who had healed himself personally, was ready to put out some new music. 

As excited as he was to put out new music, he wondered if he could still make it as an artist. After all, he had been away for so long, he questioned if his fans would respond the same way they had. The nervous man also pondered what the label would think of his new music. The anxious man did his best to cheer himself up and he thought of the thousands of notes his fans had written, ones of love and encouragement and support. He knew he could make it back again in the music business with the help of his team and his fans.

With help from his team, Josh created an album that was by far his best to date. Josh’s previous doubts of how his fans and label would receive his new music were soon lost in the media whirlwind that surrounded him. Instead of reports on Josh’s emotional status, the media focused on the phenomenal success that was his latest album. This new album went straight to number 1 and stayed there for several weeks. 

As much as Josh enjoyed getting praise from his critics and having a number 1 CD and songs, the greatest praise the artist got was in hearing what his fans thought. Josh, would sometimes log on to his board and check out what his fans said about the CD. He was elated that they loved it and how they said the songs affected their lives and changed them. Hearing that his songs, had affected people’s lives, and had given them comfort in difficult times was something he would cherish. He was touched deeply that his fans were affected that much by the music he wrote. 

As deeply touched and humbled at how his fans appreciated his music, he often wondered if Rebecca had ever listened to or heard his new music. It was a thought that sometimes plagued him at night. He wondered where she was, what she was doing, how she was doing, if she thought about him or missed him. Even after all the years that had passed, his heart still ached for her. The man never stopped loving her in spite of what they had gone through. 

Now that Josh had released a new CD, it was time for touring to begin. Josh and his team worked together to come up with a list of venues and dates when and where he would perform. When the singer/song-writer had first found out he was headed to Maryland to play, he was both nervous and excited. In secret, Josh used the cell phone numbers of both her parents she had given him many years ago in hopes of being able to contact them. He was successful in talking to them and as much as he wanted to ask a million questions as to how Rebecca was doing, he wanted to be respectful of her. Josh told her parents that he would soon be in Washington D.C. at the Verizon Center to perform and would they give her the ticket that he would mail to them. They told Josh they would do their best to convince their daughter, but they couldn’t promise anything. The nervous man was grateful for their help in any way. 

The night of Josh’s performance at the Verizon Center quickly approached. The singer didn’t know whether he was more anxious about performing or possibly seeing Rebecca. As was his ritual, Josh stayed in his dressing room 15 minutes prior to taking the stage and mentally prepared himself for the night to come. He went through the set list in his mind, and said a long prayer to God, thanking Him for letting Josh to get to this moment, for His love through out all that he had gone through in the last years, for the love of his family and friends, for the ability and gift to sing. Lastly Josh prayed that if God could please let Rebecca see him tonight he would be forever grateful, that wherever she was, she was happy and that she knew that Josh still loved her. After the prayer was ended, Josh did one last thing. The anxious man got up from where he sat, went over to his bureau and with a key, unlocked a locked drawer. He took out the brown wooden box and with shaking hands, lifted off the cover. There in the box lay his silver ring and silver bracelet, along with other memorable items of the couple’s time together. With still shaking hands, Josh carefully put on the silver ring and bracelet. The man smiled as he felt the metal touch his skin. His heart was almost whole again. The singer heard a knock on the door, he knew he was ready. 

The moment he stepped out on the stage with his band behind him and heard the deafening cheering of the crowd, he knew he was home. He smiled the biggest smile he could manage. Josh stood there for several minutes soaking up the cheering and clapping. The singer wore a pair of dark blue jeans, black shoes, and a rich, deep brown button down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a favorite shirt of Josh’s. His band members all watched as the man before them took it all in. To them, Josh finally seemed to be back on his feet. 

Josh took the microphone from a nearby stand, smiled once more and then began to speak.

“Good evening” Josh spoke in a serious voice. Women in the audience screamed in delight.

Josh just smiled and continued speaking. “I know it’s been a long time coming for me to be touring again. So thank you to everyone here who has bought a ticket and hopefully a few dozen CD’s! Which make great gifts by the way.” 

He laughed and continued on. “Seriously, it’s wonderful to be back on stage alongside my band. I hope everyone has fun tonight! Tonight we’ll be doing some old favorites as well as some brand new songs.”

With that being said, Josh launched into his song set. Over the next two hours Josh sang, You Raise Me Up, Per Te, So She Dances, Weeping, Machine, Solo Por Ti, Un Dia Llegara, L'Ultima Notte, For Always, The Prayer, Pearls, Mai, Alla Luce del Sole, Canto Alla Vita, Let Me Fall, Vincent (Starry, Starry Night), Home To Stay, You're Still You, Gira Con Me, Smile, In Her Eyes, Now or Never, Oceano, All Improvviso Amore, Caruso, My December, Broken Vow, and Awake. 

When the final note of Awake was played, Josh looked out at the audience and smiled a big, big smile as he sat on his piano bench. The entertainer then spoke into the microphone with a serious tone in his voice. 

“For the encore, I’ll be singing two brand new songs. I wrote both of these songs when I was going through an extremely difficult time in my life a few years ago. The first one is called February Song. To me, this song is about loneliness, feeling emotionally lost within yourself, depression, learning to appreciate the simple things in life like those who love you. This song is about the dark and painful situations everyone faces, how we each cope with, learn from and are healed by these situations we all face.”

With that said Josh settled himself into the piano bench, placed his hands on the piano keys, closed his eyes and mentally and emotionally took himself back to that hellish day when he and Rebecca broke up. 

When he was ready, Josh started to play and sing the haunting but beautiful song. The singer put all the emotional hurt, sadness, loneliness, anger, pain, despair, and hopes he could gather within himself into playing and singing. Half-way through the song, the emotionally raw man was surprised to find silent tears running down his face. The brown haired singer was immersed in the song he was performing, so much so that he mentally blocked out the audience’s reaction and was for a few brief moments, mentally and emotionally taken back in time when his life went straight to hell. Though he had tears running down his face, somehow, Josh willed himself not to break down completely and managed to make it through the entire song. 

Where has that old friend gone  
Lost in a February song  
Tell him it won't be long  
Til he opens his eyes, opens his eyes

Where is that simple day  
Before colors broke into shades  
And how did I ever fade  
Into this life, into this life

And I never want to let you down  
Forgive me if I slip away  
When all that I've known is lost and found  
I promise you I, I'll come back to you one day

Morning is waking up  
And sometimes it's more than just enough  
When all that you need to love  
Is in front of your eyes  
It's in front of your eyes

And I never want to let you down  
Forgive me if I slip away  
Sometimes it's hard to find the ground  
Cause I keep on falling as I try to get away  
From this crazy world

And I never want to let you down  
Forgive me if I slip away  
When all that I've known is lost and found  
I promise you I, I'll come back to you one day

Where has that old friend gone  
Lost in a February song  
Tell him it won't be long  
Til he opens his eyes  
Opens his eyes

Josh, who was still so engrossed in the emotion and memories of the song, didn’t hear the crowd cheering for him until he opened his eyes and took it all in. When he first opened his eyes, for a quick second, it all seemed surreal. But then he reminded himself that what he was doing was real and this wasn’t a dream. The man at the piano sat and absorbed everything about the moment: the yelling and cheering of the crowd, the dried tear stains on his cheeks, the bright stage lights, and the smile on his face.  
“Thank you very much!” Josh said as he spoke into the microphone, emotion still in his voice. 

He paused to take a drink of water from a Deer Park water bottle which lay nearby and to collect himself, emotionally and mentally. 

“This next song is called With You. This song is about love, forgiveness, regret, remorse, sadness, and pain. It talks about memories of a love lost, and the hope of getting them back.”   
Nervous about sharing a song this personal for the first time, Josh took a few deep and calming breaths and slowly released them. After this, he put his hands on the black and white keys and began to play. The nervousness that was there only moments before was now gone and was replaced by a strong, poignant voice. The man put his heart and soul into every note he played and every word he sang. 

In his mind, he saw her face, on the day they broke up: crying, tears streaming down her face, her eyes full of sadness, guilt, regret, and love. The brown eyed singer remembered every word she had said, and how powerful her kiss was. Then the memory changed: he recalled watching her leave him for the last time and how he lost it: hitting the floor beneath him and sobbing. The broken man had a difficult time not crying as he recollected all of the times they had together: going on tour together, celebrating his birthday in Spain, their numerous fights, the hateful words said and the eventual break up. As the sensitive man sang he didn’t stop the tears that flowed from his brown eyes. '

Sometimes I remember reasons I let you go  
Inside them I see your face and all I really know  
I was scared to share the love I have inside of me  
Through all the heartache I know that I was meant to be...

With you  
I have everything I've ever wanted  
Simple and true  
With you  
Crying eyes so beautiful  
It's you who always thought our love would see us through

If I could follow my heart again it would be yours  
With every breath I would find a way to love you more  
I can't imagine life without your silent bravery  
And I'm grateful for every moment that I get to be...

With you  
I have everything I've ever wanted  
Simple and true  
With you  
Loving eyes so beautiful  
It's you who always finds a way

And if the stars should disappear  
In the dark I'll still be here  
Forever in your arms where I belong

With you  
I have everything I've ever wanted  
Simple and true  
With you  
Loving eyes so beautiful  
It's you who always knew our love would see us through

With you

The expressive man had, had his eyes closed while he sang, now opened them as he finished the song. Josh had been so caught up with the emotions and memories of the song that he didn’t know what the audience’s reaction would be. It was on until he heard the cheering of the crowd that he came to his senses. He smiled a big smile and let himself enjoy the moment. Aimlessly, his eyes wandered through out the crowd, making eye contact and smiling at everyone he saw. 

“Thank you so much for that and for letting my band and I play here tonight! We’ve had a great time playing here and hope you have too! Thanks again. God bless you all and good night!” Josh said as he stood up, waved and smiled once more at the crowd and then went off stage.

The singer didn’t notice the words of “Great job tonight!” and “You were phenomenal!” as spoken by his team and band mates. Josh was in his own world, his mind was spinning with too many questions and not enough answers.

‘Was she there? Did she see me? What did she think of the two songs I sang? Does she know they were for her? Does she know that I still love her? That even after all the hurt and pain and hell these past years that I haven’t stopped loving her?’ 

A million other questions raced through the singer’s mind. It was only until his manager Brian, slapped him on the back causing Josh to jump in unexpected shock, thus jolting him out of his day dream.

“Hey Josh, did you hear a word I’ve said?” his manager asked him.

“No Brian, I haven’t. My mind’s been someplace else, sorry.” the brown haired man blushed from embarrassment. 

Brian didn’t have to verbalize who they both knew Josh was thinking about. He had been a nervous wreck, which was unusual for Josh. However, given the idea that she might be there, it was understandable to Brian and the rest of the ‘team’ as well as the band members for Josh to be a bit nervous about performing. 

“Don’t worry about it! You did outstanding out there tonight! I wanted to let you know that you have one hour to get cleaned up before the Grobanites come knocking! Remember them? I’ll see you later, okay? Again great job tonight Josh!” Brian said with a laugh and a grin.

“Thanks Brian for everything. You know how crazy I’ve been…thanks for sticking by me. Those Grobanites are a wonderful, and at times, crazy funny group of people! I love them all! I’ll see you later Brian!” Josh said as he smiled back at Brian and the two parted ways.

The tired singer climbed his way onto his tour bus and the first thing he heard was the sound of Sweeney barking. A smile lit up the man’s face as he saw Sweeney run down the isle of the bus and into Josh’s waiting and open arms. For the next several minutes, Josh and Sweeney played with each other. Josh and Sweeney ended up, several minutes later, lying sprawled out on the couch and it wasn’t until Josh was woken up by Sweeney licking his face that the exhausted man looked at a nearby clock and realized he only had 30 minutes until the Grobanites arrived. 

In spite of the fact that the all over tired man would rather sleep for the rest of the night, Josh got up as quick as his body would allow him and went and got ready for the awaiting Grobanites. To wake himself up, he took a quick shower, and dressed in a pair of clean blue jeans, his Cons, glasses and a plain black t-shirt. After dressing, Josh scrounged around the bus looking for something edible, which he found in the form of left over food his mom had sent to him earlier when the tour had just begun. Luckily it was still edible, which satisfied Josh’s hungry stomach. After eating, Josh went and brushed his teeth and hair. 

Josh sat on the couch watching TV and scratching Sweeney’s head and smiled as he heard the knock on his tour bus door. He quickly turned off the TV, told Sweeney to stay put and grabbed a black Sharpie from the stash he kept at the front of the bus for occasions such as this. The excited young man couldn’t hold back a smile as the door opened and he stepped outside.

The women all cheered loudly as Josh smiled at them. He had never seen a group this big before! For the next three hours, under the protection of his body guards, Josh signed pictures, and CD’s, took photos with and hugged every single fan and thanked them for coming to see him. Josh was tired, but very happy to always meet with his fans. After all, they supported him through the ups and downs of both his personal and professional life. 

Josh looked up at the, thankfully, short line of fans he still had yet to meet with. For a split second, Josh thought he saw her. But the worn-out singer just chalked it up to him being so very tired from all of the day’s events. Mentally shaking himself, he refocused back on his fans. When the last fan was hugged and had said goodbye to Josh, the singer turned to one of his body guards and asked them for a few bottles of water, to which he was given. One bottle was opened and Josh greedily drank it all in one breath. After this, Josh began to say goodnight to his body guards and started walking back to the bus. On the way towards the bus, Josh opened and started drinking the other bottled water.   
Then he heard one of his body guards speaking to someone. 

“Miss, you can’t come back here and see Josh without a Meet and Greet sticker on. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go. Please come with me and I’ll show you out.” Josh heard one of his men say.

The next words Josh heard stopped him dead in his tracks, and made him drop his water bottle and turn around. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The man felt his heart catch in his throat and didn’t know what to do. The brown eyed singer was frozen where he stood and he did his best to try and hide a smile on his face. 

“Please sir, all I need is five minutes to talk to Josh! I used to be his photographer on tour, years ago. My name is Rebecca Graham! Josh knows me, just ask him! Please!” the woman said. 

Somehow, Josh managed to make himself talk and function coherently, even though he had no idea what he was saying. 

After what seemed like forever to Josh, Rebecca walked over to where Josh stood. 

The man took in her appearance, she wore a pair of light colored blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a green and white flower printed waist length dress. Her hair was shorter and had blond highlights in them. He’d be lying if he didn’t think she looked beautiful and soon the gentleman remembered how she looked when she wore that same outfit just for him when they had gone out on a date years ago. 

Her eyes however, caught him off guard and for a moment he couldn’t breath. Those once beautiful and sparkling green eyes that he had stared into were now lifeless or so he thought. However, as he continued to look into her eyes, he thought that perhaps for a second or two he saw how she was really feeling inside: fearful, nervous, angry, lonely, and something else, but Josh couldn’t put his finger on what it was. It scared the man to think that this woman standing in front of him was a shell of her former self. True, she acted as if everything in her life was going well, she was happy and smiling. But underneath that smile told Josh how she was really feeling or not feeling and that worried him. 

“Hi Josh.” Rebecca said as she stared at the ground. It was clear that she wasn’t the only one who was nervous. 

Rebecca’s eyes flickered up to where Josh was standing looking at her and for a moment their eyes met. It was in that brief moment that their eyes met, that the nervous woman took in the appearance of the man standing in front of her. She smiled slightly as she looked at what Josh was wearing, she had to admit that even in jeans and t-shirt he looked great. She looked into his eyes and saw that behind the love and joy he had for performing and for his fans, was nervousness, sadness, emptiness, guilt, regret, and for a second she thought she saw a glimmer of love in his beautiful brown eyes. 

Josh somehow found his voice once again and said “Hi Rebecca.”

The awkwardness of the situation played itself out in silence, which neither of them liked.

“It’s getting late, and I know you’re busy Josh, but all I wanted to do was to come and see how you were doing. I know we haven’t talked for years since that day. But I just wanted to see if you were happy and tell you that I’m sorry…for everything. Bye Josh.” Rebecca spoke in a rushed, nervous manner. Then the woman started walking away.

The man was once again in shock over what she had said to him as he thought to himself.

‘That couldn’t be the only reason she came to see me? To see how I was doing? To apologize after all these years? Is there more to it than that?’ 

Seeing how far away she was, Josh chased after her and called her name.

“Rebecca! Rebecca, wait! Please wait!”

Eventually Josh caught up to her and stood in front of her to keep her from going any place else.

The singer held onto her shoulders and looked into her eyes and saw that she was crying. The man with beautiful brown eyes didn’t have to guess as to why she was crying.   
‘It must have taken a lot of guts to come all this way and say what she said. I don’t blame her for crying. God, it still breaks my heart to see her cry like this!” The man could feel himself tearing up too.

“Rebecca, there’s more than one reason why you came here tonight, isn’t there?” Josh questioned. 

Through her tears, all she could do was to nod her head. Afraid that if she opened her mouth to speak, she would loose it all together. 

The concerned man said, “Why don’t we head onto the tour bus and sit down and talk, okay? The band and crew won’t be back for quite some time.” 

Once again the woman nodded yes and together they went inside his tour bus. They found themselves in the back of the tour bus, in Josh’s bedroom so they could have more privacy to talk. In order to keep prying eyes and ears away from them, Josh put a “Do Not Enter” sign on the front of his door. His band members and crew knew not to disturb him when that sign was out, they all respected his privacy. 

They sat on Josh’s bed, some distance from each other, drinking bottled water. It had gotten quite cold outside, so they both had on long sleeved shirts. Josh wore a black zip up hoodie and he gave Rebecca one as well. Neither of them wanted to make the first move to continue the conversation they had begun outside. Each of them was nervous, which given the situation was understandable. 

Rebecca decided to break the silence first and said, “Thanks Josh for the bottled water and the hoodie. It was getting cold outside, don’t you think? So how have you been? You’ve been quite the busy guy lately with a new CD and all! That’s great!” She spoke with a forced smile. 

The man looked at her and said, “Thanks Rebecca. I’ve been doing very well. So what’s your reason for coming to visit me tonight?” Josh inquired.

“What? Can’t I come and see how you’re doing? It’s obvious that you’re doing very well. So, umm…thanks for the water, hoodie and conversation, but I really do have to get going! I’m sure you have a lot of things to do and you’re tired from the day’s events. So I’ll just see myself out!” Rebecca said as she quickly got up from where she sat. The nervous woman put the bottled water on the bed and she had started to unzip the hoodie he had given her.

Frustrated and very tired, Josh stood up and said, “Stop it Rebecca! Just stop it, alright? I’m not here to play mind games with you. I was and am concerned about you, about why you came to visit me. I’m tired, and I’ve had a really long day. So can we just sit here and talk without all the drama, please?” Josh asked. 

Rebecca sighed and sat down on the bed and looked at Josh and said, “I’m sorry for being so sarcastic. It’s just that I’m nervous about this. So, what do you want to know about me?” she inquired.

“I want to know how you have been? Why you came all this way just to say you’re sorry? Why now after all this time has gone by?” Josh answered her in a frustrated tone.

The green eyed woman sat quietly as she thought about what to say. When she began to speak Josh listened intently. 

“First off, I want to apologize for how I acted just then. I was a jerk and I’m sorry. I guess coming here to see you…just kind of freaked me out.”'

Josh could tell she had a lot to say and sat and waited for her to continue.

“What I’m going to say probably isn’t going to make a whole lot of sense, so bear with me okay?” She sighed once more; Josh could tell she was frustrated.  
“It’s okay, just think about it and take your time.” he encouraged her.

The woman took another deep breath, let it out and continued to speak.

“These last years apart have been very difficult for me. I’ve had to deal with feelings of immense guilt, shame, anger at myself for doing what I did, betrayal not only of our relationship but also betraying myself for allowing that to happen, major depression, and loneliness. I can’t even tell you how many nights I cried myself to sleep, over analyzing the situation in my mind. What kills me most is how selfish I was in thinking only of myself at that time. I never thought once about how this was affecting you! I remember every detail of that day, what you wore, and the hurtful and painful things we said to each other. I’m not going to lie, there were times in the last few years that I thought about killing myself because I couldn’t deal with the aftermath of the situation. I don’t know what was worse, the thought of killing myself coupled with the major depression I was in, or the guilt and shame I felt for hurting you, myself and us! God, I was such an idiot! I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to pick up the phone and call you and tell you how sorry I was and still am! If I could Josh, I would take back every single action and word I did and said, every stupid decision I made! I’d take it all back because it ruined the only great thing in my life at that time, which was us. In spite of all of this, my faith and my family helped me deal with what I was going through. If it weren’t for those two things, I don’t know where I’d be! So I guess what I’m saying is that I came here to apologize and tell you how deeply and profoundly sorry I am for how I hurt you and broke your heart. God Josh, I’m so sorry! I just wanted to see if you were happy and that life was going well for you. Can you ever forgive me?” 

By now, Rebecca was crying openly. In her crying, she hadn’t realized that Josh had wrapped his arms around her and she lay on his bed curled up in a ball. The man stayed quiet as she continued crying. Occasionally, he would stroke her back and run her fingers through her hair; something he knew calmed her down. 

The tearful young woman eventually cried herself to sleep as Josh held her. For hours, Josh watched her sleep, taking in every detail: from her short highlighted hair, to her deep breathing that told him she was sleeping. However, even in her sleep, she seemed restless and that deeply troubled the singer. As much as she put on a smiling, happy face, Josh could tell her soul was still in turmoil after all these years. He’d be lying to himself if he hadn’t spent many nights dreaming of holding her again. 

Many hours later in the middle of the night, Rebecca opened her eyes and for a moment she thought she was back in their home in London and Josh was holding her as she slept, like he had always done. In that single moment, her heart was happy. Then she realized that no, she wasn’t in London, she was on Josh’s tour bus and had cried herself to sleep. When her eyes adjusted to her surroundings, she saw that Josh too had fallen asleep.   
'  
‘God, he looks so beautiful!’ Rebecca thought as she watched him sleep. She took in his features from his curly brown hair to his steady slow breathing that told her he was sleeping. The woman furrowed her brow as she really looked at him, even in his sleep; he appeared to be on edge, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Rebecca knew Josh better than he knew himself and knew that sometimes he put on a smiling happy face to mask the hurt and pain he was feeling. It broke her heart to know that even all these years later, he was still hurting, even if he was thriving professionally once again. The green eyed woman pondered this question in her mind. Eventually, she fell back asleep again, holding Josh as well.

Hours later, when the sun had come up the next morning, Josh was the one to open his eyes. He looked at the woman he was holding and smiled a small smile.   
“Hi.” he said his voice filled with sleep as he yawned and then laughed. 

“Hi back at you.” she said as she yawned and smiled at him.

“Is there some place where we can go and talk? We need to sort this out, whatever it is. Plus I’m hungry.” she said to him.

Josh rolled over and looked at a nearby clock. He saw the current time and rolled back over to where she was.

“Let me go and see if I am needed anywhere today and then I’ll come back and let you know.” Josh said.

The woman nodded her head and Josh got up off the bed, went and brushed his teeth and hair, put on a baseball cap and was out the door. While he was gone, Rebecca climbed out of his bed and quickly as she could went and got a shower in his bathroom. 15 minutes or so passed and he had returned in the room.

Rebecca came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her and blushed with embarrassment. 

“I hope you don’t mind me using your shower. I don’t have any clean clothes though.” she said.

“I don’t mind at all. You can borrow some of mine. There’s an extra tooth brush and hairbrush underneath the sink you can use.” Josh said as he smiled and sifted through his clean clothes to find something she could wear.

He handed her a pair of grey cargo pants, a bright green vintage looking T-shirt, and a black zip up hoodie to which she thanked him for and went and got changed in the bathroom.

Minutes later she came out and sat on the bed, looking at him as she put on her shoes from the night before.   
“What did you find out?” she inquired.

“I talked to Dennis, my new Tour Manager and Janet my Road Manager, and they told me that I have today, tomorrow and the next day off, so we have time to work this out.” Josh said as he looked at her.

Rebecca didn’t question what happened to Josh’s old ‘team’. Josh could tell though as he looked at her that she was questioning who these new people were.  
“Dennis and Janet are a part of my new management. I’ll tell you about them and the rest of the band members, some of whom are new at a later time.” He said with a smile. 

“That’s good to hear.” she replied, once again starting to feel nervous.

“How about I change my clothes and then we can go and get some food. I think we’re both hungry.” Josh asked her.

“Sounds good to me.” she told him with a somewhat hopeful smile.

Josh quickly grabbed some clean clothes and went into the bathroom, closed the door and changed. He came out dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a grey zip up hoodie and black baseball cap, socks and tennis shoes. 

They left the bus and Josh drove to a nearby café for some food. The café was empty, which was good because they didn’t want to attract any attention to themselves. The quickly ordered their food and coffee and sat down. The two of them made small talk, which neither of them was good at, but it was better than silence, which both of them detested.   
After their plates had been cleared, they sat in silence with their coffee cups in front of them. The moment of truth had come.

“First off, Josh, I want to apologize for crying last night. I was a bumbling idiot. I’m not sure I made any sense!” the woman said.

“Rebecca, listen to me. There is nothing to apologize for. It’s okay to cry. You made perfect sense.” the man said as he paused trying to think of how to phrase what he would say next.

“Did you get to see the concert last night?” the black baseball cap wearing man said.

“Yes I did. You were wonderful!” she said. He smiled and could hear the pride she had for him in her voice.

“Thank you. That means a lot coming from you. More importantly, did you hear the last two songs I played? “February Song” and “With You”?” he said as he took a sip of his coffee.  
“Yes. The first song just killed me inside Josh! I never knew the pain and heartache that I had put you through! Seeing you cry as you sang the song brought back every memory of that night! Oh my God, I’m so sorry Josh!” Rebecca said in an emotional voice as she felt tears well up in her eyes.

“I’ll admit that was a very difficult song to sing, much less write. What did you think of the second song, “With You”?” he asked her.

“It was still very hard to watch you sing that as you cried. I’m not sure which song hit home more! I think in the second song, you sounded a bit more hopeful, but still unsure of the future with me.” she said in a solemn voice.

The two of them sat there pondering what had been said, until Josh spoke. He chose his words carefully.

“Rebecca, I did a lot of thinking last night. I’ve come to the conclusion… that I do forgive you...”

The singer once again took another sip of his coffee. He waited to see her reaction.

“Thank you Josh! You don’t know what this means to me! How long I’ve waited and hoped you would say those words to me!” she said with a look of relief in her eyes and a grateful smile on her face.

The woman became serious once more as she looked to the man sitting across from her. She paused to take a sip of her coffee and collect her thoughts.

“I know…I know that I said and did a lot of things that hurt you deeply Josh. I was stupid and naïve and drunk. I regret everyday the things I did that hurt you…and us. We both said things that we can never take back. I’m not gonna lie Josh, what you said to me that day, hurt me deeper than I ever thought possible. It took me years to learn not to hate you.” she paused and took a deep breath.

Josh winced outwardly as he heard her said that she hated him. The brown haired man sighed inwardly. He couldn’t blame her though. The man continued to listen as she continued to speak.  
'  
“In time, I learned that it was the both of us who contributed to the downfall of our relationship. I know I did my part in that and it’s taken me a long time to come to that realization and to learn to forgive myself. It’s been hard, really hard. And even though I have forgiven myself and tried my best to move on with my life, it’s been an uphill battle, that’s for sure. I wanted to tell you…that I forgive you.” she said as she looked at him, waiting to see his reaction.

Rebecca watched as she saw the relief and gratefulness start to come back into his eyes. Josh then smiled at her.

He then spoke, “Thank you for telling me how you feel and how this affected you. I’m glad that we could forgive each other. It’s been really good to talk to you. While you’ve been sitting here talking, I’ve been thinking…” he trailed off.

The woman could see the hesitation in his eyes and for a brief second, she panicked. Josh could sense her unease and gently reached across the table and put his hand on top of hers, and moments later, she had calmed down.

“I’ve been thinking too Josh…” she trailed off. She wasn’t sure if she was speaking to herself or to him, but she let him go on. 

With great resolve not to freak out again, Rebecca looked into Josh’s eyes as he spoke once more.

“I’ve been thinking…as much I forgive you…I don’t know if I am willing to put at risk, my heart and soul again. I’m not sure if I want to take that chance again. Don’t get me wrong, the years we were together were some of the happiest I’ve ever been! But after we broke up and I learned to get on with my life, I learned to love you in a different way…from afar…because I was too scared to get my heart broke again if we did get back together.” Josh said as tears began to well up in his eyes.

Rebecca stayed silent, taking in all this new information. Still holding her hand, Josh did his best to comfort her.

Many moments passed before she spoke.'

“I don’t know what to say Josh. Since last night, I’ve been thinking a lot too. A lot of ‘what-if’s’ and ‘what could have been’ crossed my mind both last night and while we’ve been sitting here talking. I’m honestly not sure if I came here with the idea of getting back together, but I’d be lying if last night’s events and today’s didn’t bring back some good feelings. But I know what you’re saying and I agree with you. As much as I forgive you, I’d be too scared to risk my heart and soul again on us…or the possibility of us. After I learned to stop hating you, I learned to love you again. But like you said, it was a different kind of love…loving someone from afar, in spite of how much it hurts you inside. That said, I think we both need some time away from each other to think things through. What do you think?”

This time it was Josh’s turn to take in all this new information. He sat silent for many minutes absorbing what Rebecca had said to him. Unbeknownst to him, Rebecca had now turned the tables on him and was now the one who was holding his hand and comforting him.

Josh took another sip of his now cold coffee and looked up at her and spoke.

“I think you’re right. I think we need some time apart from each other to process all of this and to figure it out. Thank you for coming here and talking with me. We’ve needed to do this for a long time.” the man said as he squeezed her hand.

He was a bit unsure of how to end this conversation and said, “How about we take the next two days off and think about it and we’ll let each other know of the situation then?”

“I think that that’s a good idea. Thanks for being willing to come here and talk with me.” Rebecca said with a sad smile to which Josh returned the same sad smile.  
Always the gentleman, Josh paid for the food and coffee, which Rebecca thanked him for. Once the tip was on the table, they both stood up, getting ready to once again part ways. Both nervous about what the future would hold for them, they awkwardly hugged each other and said goodbye.' (TBC)


End file.
